Day 1

The morning light started to leak in at 630, even though we are west-facing.  Maybe we are further east than in Owings Mills? From the apartment windows, even though it was raining quite a lot, I saw a platoon of 11 American White Pelicans flying North - a lifer without leaving the house! This one filed under too good to be true - photos suggest Brown Pelicans, so one off the list!  Other year birds seen before we left the house, were Red-breasted Mergansers and a Laughing Gull, joining them to look for fish.  Out on the road, were loads of Boat-tailed Grackles.

Driving to the nearest beach access a couple of miles south, I saw a Yellow-rumped Warbler on the path through the duny scrub. At the beach, we saw loads of Gannets, Brown Pelicans,


a Common Loon, a Willet, and some alcid-looking things that I ignored to work on a sandcastle. In the afternoon, (after seeing a Great Egret en route)

I also saw a Kestrel in the scrub, and I went back to realise that the small gulls were Bonaparte's Gulls, and I was able to see a Great and Lesser Black-backed, Ring-billed and American Herring Gull, at the same time as the smaller Bonaparte's and Forster's Tern.  I was also able to get a great look at a life Razorbill not too far out

(video still!)
and a Red-throated Loon, flying with the odd drop-headed look far out at sea. Also some Sanderlings, and four more Willets.
Then I decided to check out Pea Island (in preparation for tomorrow morning),

seeing a Wilson's Snipe fly on teh way, and was able to a hundred or so American Avocets,

some Willets,

a couple of Eastern Meadowlarks,

Savannah Sparrows (including one possible Ipswich?),

and a couple of life White Ibises,

as well as Black-bellied (Grey) Plover.