I visited Back Bay NWR this morning for a few hours. Wish I could have spent
more time out there. Anyway, best bird was a young COMMON MOORHEN seen from the
end of the boardwalk that is at the north end of the visitor center parking
lot. The bird was standing in the edge of the marsh. At first, I thought it was
a Sora, but the bill wasn't right for a Sora. Only the front of the bird was
visible -- I tried turning it into a young American Coot, but the bird was very
gray with a distinct white throat patch and gray bill (it also had a partial
gray bill shield). It looked very much like the juvenile picture in Sibley's
guide. VSO's gold book makes me think that a young coot would be more unusual
than a young moorhen anyway. 10 WOOD DUCKS and 7 PIED-BILLED GREBES were close
and allowed me to watch them for a while. The Wood Ducks were in good plumage.
Another neat bird for me was a juvenile LONG-BILLED DOWITCHER in a pool, just
south of the visitor center. The shorebirds were close here. No heat haze! I
could clearly see the grayish tertials on this dowitcher. My thanks go to
Andrew Baldelli for pointing out this difference from juvenile Short-bills.
Later, while I was headed back to the parking lot, a NORTHERN HARRIER flew by
and flushed the shorebirds at this spot -- kind of disappointing. The good that
came out of this was that I heard the Long-bill call -- sort of a strident
"kek" repeated many times. Now I knew for sure that it was a Long-bill! I can't
even remember when I was this confident in my identification of a Long-bill
(with no one else present to help me).
Other shorebirds at this spot included:
Wilson's Snipe 3
Greater Yellowlegs 8
Lesser Yellowlegs 5
Pectoral Sandpiper 20
Least Sandpiper 18
Semipalmated Sandpiper 5
I walked to the "dog-leg" on the east dike path -- before pool B, I believe.
The birds were distant and water low (and heat haze was present). A flock of
BLUE-WINGED TEAL (~80) flew by. Most of the herons/egrets in the distance
appeared to be LITTLE BLUE HERONS (~8). 3 CATTLE EGRETS and 4 WHITE IBIS were
also present. There was a distant flock of shorebirds (~20, med-sized), but I
couldn't tell what they were.
There were few warblers around -- species included PALM, PRAIRIE, PARULA, and
COMMON YELLOWTHROAT. I can't complain too much. The warblers nearby were
obliging. But, the fly-overs were frustrating!
It was a nice day to be out.
Elisa Enders
Portsmouth, VA
