September 2: This time of year is annually a good time to look for shorebirds in the rain pools at Hammonasset State Park in Madison, CT. The west-end pools are immediately adjacent to the parking lots and the birds are not bothered at all by slowly moving cars, so folks are being treated to some nice close-up views and photos.The past two days have featured a visiting Baird’s Sandpiper and a couple of Buff-breasted Sandpipers.

At the east end, American Goldfinches are in the brush and small flycatchers are hawking insects in the low trees by the marsh edge near the picnic pavillion. I photographed a Least Flycatcher and two minutes later took some more shots of what I initially assumed was the same bird as it landed on the same branch in the same tree, but this one turned out to be an Eastern Wood-Pewee.

Finally, one of the many Ospreys seen daily from our deck here in Westbrook offered some especially nice flight views.