Birdwalk Highlights for 8/22: Walsh Preserve, Freeport; Bridge St, Yarmouth; and Yarmouth Town Landing.

We began at Walsh Preserve, where a MERLIN stole the show, perched out in the marsh on driftwood and occasionally making half-hearted hunting attempts. It also seemed to reduce overall shorebird numbers, however, with relatively low tallies of 48 LESSER YELLOWLEGS, 11 GREATER YELLOWLEGS, 7 LEAST SANDPIPERS, 4 KILLDEER, 3 SEMIPALMATED SANDPIPERS, and 1 SOLITARY SANDPIPER.

Also in the marsh, we had one GREAT EGRET and 9 SNOWY EGRETS, with a COMMON YELLOWTHROAT at the edge. In the woods, CEDAR WAXWINGS were overhead, and we had a nice close encounter with a BLACK-AND-WHITE WARBLER.

But since it's shorebird season, we left a little underwhelmed, but our next stop, the falls and dam removal area of the Royal River from Bridge Street in Yarmouth helped make up for it. There, two of the five Lesser Yellowlegs present were directly below us - a unique angle for viewing for sure! Less unexpected were 3 more Solitary Sandpipers (much better looks than the one calling fly-by at Walsh, too) and two SPOTTED SANDPIPERS, including one still mostly in breeding plumage. An ALDER FLYCATCHER offered a fantastic look and study, and other riparian denizens included a low and close OSPREY, a hunting BELTED KINGFISHER, 3 MALLARDS, one EASTERN KINGBIRD high overhead in active migration, and more Cedar Waxwings.

I didn't expect much at the Yarmouth Town Landing, but the tide was already starting to go out, and the relatively low high tide combined to produce more mud edge than I expected to find, and therefore more shorebirds, including more exceptional views: 32 Lesser Yellowlegs, 4 Semipalmated Sandpipers, 3 SHORT-BILLED DOWITCHERS, 2 Least Sandpipers, and 1 SEMIPALMATED PLOVER.

We had a couple of more Osprey here, about a dozen DOUBLE-CRESTED CORMORANTS, and enjoyed a good comparison between fresh juvenile GULLS: RING-BILLED (12 total), HERRING (2), and one LAUGHING GULL.