Hey Everyone,
Yesterday the Blue Ridge Young Birders Club took a field trip down to Dutch Gap
for some waterfowl fun. Upon our arrival some of the Young Birders were already
getting some lifers. We had a good showing of Shovelers, 13 Pintails, 3 GW
Teal, Wood Ducks, Coots, RN Ducks, Mallards, Gadwalls, Wigeons, and 2 Hooded
Mergansers. Flyover birds included 4-5 Bald Eagles, Cormorants, 3 Horned Larks,
100s of RB Gulls including 2 Herring Gulls, and many Canada Geese including a
flock of four Geese including a Cackling Goose. We walked down the trail a
little ways where we found Swamp Sparrows, 2 Chipping Sparrows, an oddly
wing-barred Hermit Thrush that was very tame, Field Sparrows, Savannah
Sparrows, 2 Creepers, GC Kinglets, a female Kestrel, Meadowlark, and
Buffleheads. We were delighted to find 11 Snipes sitting on logs in the middle
of the water which was a lifer for many. One member kept going a little farther
instead of going back for lunch and found a Brown Thrasher.
We then packed our stuff and headed to Hopewell where there have been some
interesting rarities at City Pont. We parked at the intersection of Water st.
and Pecan St. and walked along the edge of the river. There we had 1000s of
Gulls. I did my best to scan through all of them but was only rewarded with 2
Great Black-backed Gulls (One young bird and one adult) and sadly nothing
unusual. We kept walking and found ourselves in Petersburg National Battlefield
Park where we had a Common Grackle and Savannah Sparrow. Then following a few
YR Warbler's chirping we found a Nashville Warbler and a Palm Warbler! They
were on the edge of the hill behind the big house at Petersburg National
Battlefield Park beside an old tree that is fenced off and a lone bush. If you
want to find these warblers I would go to Petersburg NBP and search the edges
on top of the hill listening for Yellow-rumped Warblers.
In the below Checklists are pictures of the rare birds
Dutch Gap (Includes pictures of Cackling)
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S21388229
Petersburg National Battlefield Park
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S21388227
Good Birding,
Andrew Rapp
