Recent USA and North American Trips 5/13/23 to 5/28/23

5/28/23 JAX, FL: Hundreds of Brown Pelican individuals were sighted interacting, tossing sticks, flying by, and hanging near the surf. We sure hope folks don’t scare them off! (There was truly a guy, with a family walking around the cones, who ran towards the birds while flapping his arms trying to teach a youngster HOW TO SCARE UP the birds. We were forced to explain the delicate situation and the reason for the cones. The group was very nice and left the birds alone.) While our focus was on the BRPE, there were also: Laughing Gull , Royal Tern , Semipalmated Sandpiper , Sandwich Tern , Wilson’s Plover , and American Oystercatcher .

5/15/23 Okefenokee NWR, GA: It was fun to find a Red-cockaded Woodpecker nest hole. The parents were both coming in with food: spiders, worms, and other goodies. Also: Bachman’s Sparrow , Red-headed Woodpecker , Eastern Kingbird , and Great Crested Flycatcher .

5/13/23 and 5/14/23 Fort Clinch, (Amelia Island) and JAX area, FL: American Oystercatcher pair (both banded), Brown Pelican , Least Tern pair, Royal Tern pair and colony, Sanderling (breeding and non-breeding plumage), Semipalmated Plover with worm, Snowy Egret , Willet , Common Ground-Dove , and Wilson’s Plover .