August 10:  Just offshore from Pilots Point here on the Westbrook, CT Long Island Sound are two islands, Duck Island and Menunketesuck. Both are bird rookeries. Duck Island became off limits some years ago after some idiots lit a bonfire there, but Menunketesuck Island remains accessible by canoe or kayak, or by foot if one doesn’t mind wading about 100 yards through water that at its deepest point reaches only knee deep at low tide. A portion of the stony spit is cordoned off as a breeding area for, among others, American Oystercatchers and Least Terns, and the adjacent salt marsh grass provides habitat for Seaside Sparrows. This time of year provides a special opportunity to view newly hatched Least Tern chicks. Today I also found a pair of peeps which, because of their disparate appearance, fooled me into thinking they were different species, but the local consensus turned out to be that they actually are both Least Sandpipers, one a fresh juvenile and the other a worn adult. Note the very different appearance of the two plumages.