Mathews, VA

Mathews, VA 8/19/14

All photos are © Marshall Faintich

Bethel Beach

Walt Childs and I arrived back at the marsh area just before Bethel Beach around 4:15 p.m. We saw a couple of Great Blue Herons, four Great Egrets, and another Snowy Egret.

Great Blue Heron

Great Egret

Snowy Egret

We heard several Seaside Sparrow singing, but still couldn't see any of them in the tall grasses. And then three times in different places, I saw a small, dark brown sparrow flying about 150 to 200 feet away in the tall marsh grasses. Each one would pop up, fly a few feet, and then disappear again. I tried taking a photo, but these birds were so far away that I couldn't tell whether or not I had photographed one until I looked at the photo on my computer.

Seaside Sparrow

And then we got lucky, and I got my life bird #570. A curious, juvenile Seaside Sparrow popped up close to the road to see who we were, and stayed there quite a while as I took lots of photos.

Juvenile Seaside Sparrow

We ended the birding trip at 5:45 p.m with a total of 38 avian species, had a very good dinner at a local Mathews restaurant (Richardson's?), and headed for home at 6:30 p.m.

Mathews trip bird list:

Double-crested Cormorant
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Snowy Egret
Tricolored Heron
Canada Goose
Turkey Vulture
Black Vulture
Bald Eagle
Osprey
U/A Rail
Black-bellied Plover
Semipalmated Plover
American Oystercatcher
Willet
Ruddy Turnstone
Sanderling
Semipalmated Sandpiper
Laughing Gull
Herring Gull
Royal Tern
Sandwich Tern
Forster's Tern
Black Skimmer
Mourning Dove
Chimney Swift
Ruby-throated Hummingbird
Eastern Kingbird
American Crow
Barn Swallow
Eastern Bluebird
Northern Mockingbird
European Starling
Pine Warbler
Northern Cardinal
Chipping Sparrow
Seaside Sparrow
American Goldfinch

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