On 9/29/2018 starting at 12:19 PM I drove 7.4 miles in about 2.5 hours on the Port Aransas beach, starting at Access Road 1 and stopping at Access Road 2. This is Tony Amos' old survey route. I only counted birds, photographing a few. Here's my complete eBird list.
11 Common Terns, in a mixed group of terns and gulls about 1 mile south of Access Road 1. Here's one of them:
UPDATE: I did see a group of Common Terns, but several birding colleagues have pointed out that this bird is actually a first-year Least Tern.
A little further south in a group of about 20 Red Knots, 4 were banded. I photographed the banded birds, with all but one having codes on the flag bands mostly legible. See attached observations. I counted 67 Red Knots in total.
I found 3 Lesser Black-backed Gulls, far apart from each other. See attached observations. Here's one of them:
About 2 miles south of Access Road 1, a Peregrine Falcon flew by heading south over the beach carrying a bird that it caught that looked like it might've been an American Coot. Much further down, maybe 6 miles from Access Road 1, I saw a Peregrine flying out over the surf chasing terns or gulls. I got a few distant photos.
I counted 27 Piping Plovers and photographed 7 banded ones. See attached observations.
I counted 351 Sanderlings, including this small group of resting birds. There was also a group of about 100 birds resting, which I narrowly avoided scaring into flight. Before I noticed them I got too close and caused about half of them to walk away from the group closer to the water. Here's the smaller group of sleeping birds:
Snowy Plovers were few and far between. I counted only 5, including these two using seaweed as a wind-break:
And here are the same photos on Flickr.
Taken on the Port Aransas beach, between Access Road 1 and Access Road 2.
Taken on the Port Aransas beach, between Access Road 1 and Access Road 2.
Two Snowy Plovers resting behind seaweed, using it as a wind break.
Taken on the Port Aransas beach, between Access Road 1 and Access Road 2.
Taken on the Port Aransas beach, between Access Road 1 and Access Road 2.
These are poor, heavily cropped photos of a Peregrine Falcon chasing birds out over the water.
Taken on the Port Aransas beach, between Access Road 1 and Access Road 2.
Resting behind seaweed.
Taken on the Port Aransas beach, between Access Road 1 and Access Road 2.
Taken on the Port Aransas beach, between Access Road 1 and Access Road 2.
Band: 2S0
Taken on the Port Aransas beach, between Access Road 1 and Access Road 2.
Taken on the Port Aransas beach, between Access Road 1 and Access Road 2.
Taken on the Port Aransas beach, between Access Road 1 and Access Road 2.
Band: 2R3
Taken on the Port Aransas beach, between Access Road 1 and Access Road 2.
Taken on the Port Aransas beach, between Access Road 1 and Access Road 2.
Taken on the Port Aransas beach, between Access Road 1 and Access Road 2.
On Texas beaches, Sanderlings are usually seen in constant motion. It was so fun to find this group sleeping.
Taken on the Port Aransas beach, between Access Road 1 and Access Road 2.
Taken on the Port Aransas beach, between Access Road 1 and Access Road 2.
Band: S72
Taken on the Port Aransas beach, between Access Road 1 and Access Road 2.
Band: 8N2
Taken on the Port Aransas beach, between Access Road 1 and Access Road 2.
Band: OM1
Taken on the Port Aransas beach, between Access Road 1 and Access Road 2.
Band: 9G2
Taken on the Port Aransas beach, between Access Road 1 and Access Road 2.
Taken on the Port Aransas beach, between Access Road 1 and Access Road 2.
Band: 249
Taken on the Port Aransas beach, between Access Road 1 and Access Road 2.
Taken on the Port Aransas beach, between Access Road 1 and Access Road 2.
Band: 270
Taken on the Port Aransas beach, between Access Road 1 and Access Road 2.
Taken on the Port Aransas beach, between Access Road 1 and Access Road 2.
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