The Search for the Tundra Swan

This sunday we had perfect conditions for a solid day of birding. The day started off with my first sighting of a Great Blue Heron standing knee deep in the Salt Marsh off of my house. I managed to capture a couple of photographs of the majestic bird standing in the marsh. I walked to the car where I spotted a Golden Crowned Kinglet fluttering across the woods, I couldn't identify the bird right away until I noticed its small "yellow crown" which rested upon its head and the streaks of yellow across its back and wings. I drove to the Ross School where I met up with the rest of the birding crew. We piled up into the back of Doc's car and sped off to Hook Pond. On the way we passed Town Pond and saw a group of at least 20 male and female Mallards, which can be identified by the males green heads and females light brown color. There were also two adult mute swans and one juvenile mute swan as well. When we reached Hook pond I noticed a Great Blue Heron, for the second time, take flight as we pulled in. While we were birding at hook pond, Doc told us to keep our eyes out for the Tundra Swan, which has a black bill opposed to the Mute Swan's orange bill. We also saw quite a few other marine fowl at Hook Pond, including a flight of Double-Creasted Cormorants, American Black Ducks, a Hooded, Canada Geese, Pide Bellied Grebe, and a female belted kingfisher (which was determined to be a female due to the red/orange color of its breast. When we left Hook Pond we decided to head to Georgica Pond where Doc figured there should be Tundra Swans. To our dismay we did not find any Tundra Swans, however we did see a flock of herring gulls, ring-billed gulls, sanderlings, and a lone Great Egret, which stuck out like a pickle compared to the other birds. While driving to our next destination we saw a red tailed hawk flying above in the sky roof, which was the second sky roof red tailed hawk that I have seen on the trip. On our final stop we managed to find what could be the coolest bird on the east coast. THE WILSON'S SNIPE! I small brown bird with an incredibly long bill and large eyes. At first it appeared that there were no birds to be found at the pond, but with Doc's expertise he managed to spot 3-4 relaxing under a tree. This was with out doubt the best part of the trip. So overall we had a very successful trip, even though we didn't get to spot one of the rare Tundra Swans.