I heard about an Ibis at Schoolhouse Pond yesterday, so Graeme and I took a chance and met there early this morning. We found them after about an hour, with the help of a fellow birder. It’s rare to find this bird so far from the coast in our area.

A few other birds cooperated, so it was quite a successful outing.

Schoolhouse Pond.

This Great Blue Heron greeted us.

These Mallards were probably all born this year.

This Red Winged Blackbird seemed to be observing us.

We saw 2-3 Spotted Sandpipers.

This Great Egret found a fishing spot and stayed there for several hours.

We saw three Ospreys fishing.

Two Glossy Ibis were foraging in the pond.

These Turtles were enjoying the sunshine.

I met Graeme early at Governor Bridge, and we found an injured Great Blue Heron right away. We managed to get it back to the car, but it was early and we couldn’t locate any help, so we released it. It didn’t seem to have a serious injury, so it may have a decent chance.

Other than that, it was deadly slow, with virtually no visible birds. We spent some time looking for bugs, with limited success.

This Great Blue Heron clearly couldn’t fly, so we covered its head with my shirt, and took it back to the car park.

We kept it in this bag while we tried to find help.

Today’s flowers.

Today’s bugs.

The Painted Lady is very attractive.

Another so-so sunrise at Sandy Point was redeemed by a snake, high up on the beach who seemed to be dead. I wonder if a bird tried to eat him and dropped him there?

Terrapin and CBEC were both very slow, but the exercise was good for me

Sunrise at Sandy Point.

This Snowy Egret flew right at me.

I found this egret feather at CBEC.

This Caspian Tern didn’t stay long

I think the snake threw up this eel.

This Northern Water Snake, appeared to be dead, but slithered away quickly when I approached.

I had to wait a while for this Red Admiral to open his wings.

It was unusually dark at Sandy Point this morning, but I got a couple of usable shots.  There were many more gulls than usual.

Terrapin was very lively, with Egrets, Herons and Terns.

CBEC had a few good birds, but most were too distant for good images.

Sunrise at Sandy Point.

This Osprey has caught a large fish.

This Great Egret was fishing very near to me.

This Green Heron landed in a dead tree about 20 feet from me.

Barn Swallows and Purple Martins appear to be staging for migration.

This Forster’s Tern was fishing in the marsh pond.