April 12, 2010 12am-1pm Sunny 65` Rhode Island School Of Desigen Beach (RISD), Barrington RI

RISD Beach is not at all a top notch birding site-in fact I have never even seen other birders there. But it suits me just fine from birding to swimming. The best birds I have ever seen at RISD are Saltmarsh Sharp-Tailed Sparrows and Glossy Ibis, neither being that rare around here but worth noting. Today nothing special. My goal for today was to add Snowy Egret and Green Heron to my year list. I think I was looking a bit too early for the Green Heron but you never know what you might get around now. Of course we didn't see either. We (me, my brother, my two sisters and my mother) did get an amazing view of an immature Coopers Hawk as it took a dive at what we thought was a bare stretch of marsh. The Coopers proved us wrong. A Mourning Dove burst from the grass at the last second saving himself from an almost certain bloody fate. The Coopers veered away at the same moment the Dove left the ground. It then decided a chase was pointless and instead went off in hopes that there may be a dumber dove down the street. Other than that failed dramatic attack there was not much to note except for a Killdeer or two (first of the year for me).