Birds, etc.

Seen in Assateague/Chincoteague (VA), Iron Furnace State Park (MD), and Bombay Hook NWR (DE) or on the road between these spots, November5 5-8:

Common loon, Pied-billed grebe, Northern gannet, Double-crested cormorant, Great blue heron, Great egret, Snowy egret, Little blue heron, White Ibis, Glossy Ibis, Tundra swan, Snow goose, Canada goose, American black duck, Mallard, Gadwell, Northern pintail, Northern shoveler, Black scoter, Bufflehead, Hooded merganser, Ruddy duck, Black vulture, Turkey vulture, Bald eagle, Northern harrier, Red-tailed hawk, American kestrel, Wild turkey, Clapper rail, Yellowlegs sp., Willet, Marbled godwit, Sanderling, Ring-billed gull, Herring gull, Great black-backed gull, Royal tern, Forster’s tern, Rock dove, Mourning dove, Barred owl, Belted kingfisher, Downy woodpecker, Northern flicker, Tree swallow, Blue jay, American Crow, Carolina Chickadee, Brown-headed nuthatch, Golden-crowned kinglet, Ruby-crowned kinglet, American robin, Northern mockingbird, European starling, Yellow-rumped warbler, Northern cardinal, Song sparrow, White-throated sparrow, Dark-eyed junco, Red-winged blackbird, Boat-tailed grackle, Common grackle, Purple finch, House sparrow

A mammalian highlight was the red fox, seen at Bombay Hook. Stay tuned for pictures of that. We also saw the Delmarva fox squirrel, a rare and endangered species on Assateague. Larger than our eastern grays, with bushier tails and often white bellies and white on the forehead, they are only found on the wildlife refuge now. No sika deer were seen; these little deer, sometimes called elk, were introduced from Japan. They are rutting now, and less likely to be out and about.