1/20/14 Mini Big Day

Birds Seen
20 Common Eiders
7 Harlequin Ducks
2 Surf Scoters
50 Black Scoters
3 Horned Grebes
7 Herring Gulls
2 SNOWY OWLS
1 Song Sparrow
12 Brant
15 Mallards
1 BARN OWL

First my mom and I stopped by Beavertail Point State Park in Jamestown RI. There were plenty of Common Eiders.

Common Eider

There were also several Harlequin Ducks.

Harlequin Ducks

Harlequin Ducks

There was also a Surf Scoter in the a Black Scoter Group.

Surf Scoters 

Black Scoter

Black Scoter

There were also a few Horned Grebes too, but I was unable to get a photo. Suddenly my mom was making weird hand gestures at me so I decided to come over too her and see pointed me to a rock where a SNOWY OWL was resting itself.

Snowy Owl

Snowy Owl

Snowy Owl

Snowy Owl

Snowy Owl

Snowy Owl

Snowy Owl

Snowy Owl

Snowy Owl

Snowy Owl

Snowy Owl

Snowy Owl

Snowy Owl

Snowy Owl

Snowy Owl

Snowy Owl

Snowy Owl

Snowy Owl

After success with the owl we headed over to Fort Getty Park in Jamestown RI. We didn't see much at Fort Getty except for this group of Brant.

Brant

Brant

Brant

Brant

Brant

Brant

Brant

Brant

Off to Sachuest Point. Once we got there we saw 50 (maybe more) birders waiting for the continuing BARN OWL to put on a show. It was classic; like a scene for The Big Year. Over there you got your birder with his high powered scope and camera and over there you have someone swearing at another birder and people who are too busy looking for the Barn Owl to notice the SNOWY OWL behind them.

Snowy Owl

Eventually the Barn Owl came out and put on quite a show for everyone. Even sending 3 does running for their lives. Unfortunately the Barn Owl was too fast at flying for me to get a photo, but here's one of the beautiful sunset.

Beautiful Sachuest Point Sunset 

And my mom and I went home successful.

1/12/14 Barnacle Goose serch

Today my mom,dad, and I went to Browns Lane Middletown RI to look for a continuing Barnacle Goose.

Species seen

1,000 Canada Geese

5 American Black Ducks

5 Mallards

1 BARNACLE GOOSE

1 Red Tailed Hawk

1 Peregrine Falcon

There were lots of Canada Geese seen there.

Canada Geese

Canada Geese

Canada Geese

Canada Geese

Canada Geese

There was also a Red Tailed Hawk patrolling the area

Red Tailed Hawk

A Peregrine Falcon also made a brief appearance, but was flying too fast to take a picture. Then a birder told me that she spotted the BARNACLE GOOSE she showed me where it was. Saw it for a brief moment before I lost it and I wasn't able to get a picture.

1/4/2014. Birds of Galilee RI

1/4/2014
               Today I went to Galilee RI to look for a continuing Iceland Gull. While driving through Galilee Bird Sanctuary I saw a white bird in a tree. My mom did a U-Turn and I got this.

Snowy Owl

Pumped by our success, we continued to Galilee Harbor to look for the Iceland Gull. When we got to the Salty Brine Beach parking lot we were greeted by Herring, Ring Billed, and Great Black Backed Gulls. In the water, there were also Common Loons and Common Eiders. No sign of the Iceland Gull yet.

Common Loon

We continued walking down into Galilee looking for the gull when we stumbled upon a group of lots of gulls. For sure the Iceland Gull was in here. Nope. Once we got back to the Salty Brine Beach parking lot I decided to go on the the beach for a minute to see if there was a Sanderling or two. There was one Sanderling.

Sanderling

When I was walking back to the car you will not believe what I saw next. There was an Iceland Gull flying over me! Because of the quick notice I was not able to get a picture, but hey. I still saw an Iceland Gull! After our success we started home. When we passed by Roger Wheeler Beach, Narragansett RI. I saw that there were Snow Buntings in the parking lot.

Snow Bunting

After that we went home only to get more bird alerts about the Snowy Owl at Galilee Bird Sanctuary. Been there, done that.