Hey Folks,
Spent a portion of the morning driving along the Chesapeake Bay
Bridge-Tunnel and observing from the first island (South Thimble Island).
We had very unseasonably warm weather today in Virginia Beach, with highs
in the 70s, and some very turbulent clouds moving through the area
depending on where you were at. However, out on the bay, it was a
beautiful, sunny at times even, morning and you could watch the storm
systems moving across the land areas but breaking apart at the water, quite
beautiful to see.
As for the birds, there wasn't very much duck activity out there today. On
my first pass, there was only a handful of female Red-breasted Mergansers,
and 3 Surf Scoters present off the rocky point on the north end of the
first island. Unfortunately no Long-tailed Ducks or Scaup were out today.
Purple Sandpipers (3), and Ruddy Turnstones (2) also were present and were
a pair of my target birds for the outing. A good sized flock of Sanderlings
rounded out the shorebirds visible on the island. Northern Gannets, Brown
Pelicans, and many Double-crested Cormorants were also visible as were
typical Great Black-backed, Ring-billed, and Herring Gulls.
After observing for a half hour or so, I headed up across the bridge
towards the Eastern Shore, seeing a lone Common Loon south of Fisherman
Island, and finding a Red-tailed Hawk and many Black Vultures on the island
itself (viewing as I drove along). Surprisingly, I didn't see any other
ducks or loons along the way, except a small (~10) group of Buffleheads
between Fisherman Island and the Eastern Shore mainland, that was it.
Perhaps the hot & turbulent weather patterns have them scattering away from
the open water on the bay.
On the way back southward, I caught a flash of a cormorant that may have
been my very first Great Cormorant, but with nowhere to stop or turn
around, and just a split second look as I passed at 55mph, I'll sadly never
know for sure. Hopefully the next time I'm out one makes an appearance. I
see them showing up in many birders' reports but with not owning a scope,
I've never been able to locate any.
I made a quick stop at the first island again on the return trip to
Virginia Beach, and this time instead of the 3 Surf Scoters, there was a
pair of Black Scoters present, but with no other new birds in sight, I
headed back towards home, stopping at a few sites along the way to try and
knock out some of the more common suburban birds for my new year list. I
Finished this weekend up with 61 species in total, which made for a very
fun time jumping from location to location! Photographs from today are up
on my personal website (http://www.rbnature.com/blog/gallery-we-20150104)
and many are included in my eBird reports.
Good Birding All!
Rob Bielawski
Virginia Beach, VA
