The two adult RED-HEADED WOODPECKERS were still present on South Mays Point Rd this afternoon, enjoyed by several other people as well as myself, and in a hopeful development I saw them copulating. I also saw one of them continue to reach into and spit wood chops from the lowest of 3 holes on the northeast side and just above a big fork of a dead tree which is about in the middle of the stand. (Next to it is another dead tree with a TREE SWALLOW NEST near the top and a EUROPEAN STARLING nest a few feet down.) In addition, one of them flew to the north end of the bridge, where it used the top of a utility pole as a base for flycatching sallies.
Tschache Pool had at least 47 PIED-BILLED GREBES, including many large juveniles, mainly in a large group. There was also one adult who sat and preened on an apparent nest platform along the edge of the cattails to the left as viewed from the tower, but when the bird left the large shallow bowl of sodden vegetation was devoid of eggs or young. There were also a couple sizable groups of adult and large juvenile AMERICAN COOTS and a close-by family of 2 adult and 2 downy chick COMMON GALLINULE. Those downy chicks resemble those of coots in that they have bald orange crowns, but the gallinules were otherwise downy black whereas coots are frosted with yellow on the down of the head and neck.
As Tim Lenz reported to eBird recently, I found some shorebirds in the main pool: 7 LESSER YELLOWLEGS, 1 breeding plumage SHORT-BILLED DOWITCHER, 3 breeding plumage STILT SANDPIPERS, 2 SPOTTED SANDPIPERS, and at least 16 LEAST SANDPIPERS, but I did not see the Pectoral Sandpiper I still seek for my year list. Compensation was an AMERICAN BITTERN which flew low over my car and settled a few feet away in the ditch along the entrance road by the visitor center pond. It had a few stray gray hairlike strands sticking up from its crown which made me think it was a juvenile with a vestige of down. Also it seemed pretty dopey the way it decided to land so close to my car, but it afforded amazing close looks, and it's the first I've seen this year. The solo downy SORA also continued, foraging on the slimy water/mud among cattails on the left a hundred yards or so after the parking area for the photo blind.
There were lots of other cool birds as well. Those are just a few of the highlights.
--Dave Nutter
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