Day 56. July 16, 2014. Wednesday. Freeport to Boston, Massachusetts

We got up and out fairly early because it wasn't raining, and stopped between rain squalls at an Audubon preserve. We had a nice but damp, time birding the site. We saw a hen turkey with 8-9 1/3-grown chicks, the first House Wren of the trip, a woodchuck, and even the first of the south-bound migrating shorebirds (Least Sandpipers).

From there, we continued south a few miles to Scarborough Marsh where we hoped to see the elusive Saltmarsh Sparrow. The Audubon Preserve naturalist had suggested some places, and sure enough, we drove up, looked out, and saw a Saltmarsh Sparrow (LB#637) about 10 feet from us! Between rain squalls, we saw several others, but the first was the closest. We also was Glossy Ibis, Snowy Egret, and Gray Catbirds there. Just around the corner, we waited out some extreme rain birding from the car watching terns fly by carrying first to their chicks somewhere around the next corner.

We continued south and stopped briefly at Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge. The birds were pretty quite, but it was getting late on a wet and rainy day. From there, we blasted south through New Hampshire and into Massachusetts, arriving in Boston about 6 PM to stay with Kathy and Chris for a couple of nights.

Note: All distances, elevations, and other facts are approximate.
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