(Sorry for the delay. I was hoping to get the "unavailable" checklists off
my broken cell phone but have had no luck yet.)
We ended 2018 with 194 species recorded for Prince Edward County; another
year of just missing our goal of 200 species. We will try again to reach
the goal this year, but 2019 will stay focused on the Virginia Breeding
Bird Atlas which is in its second to last year. The best birds of the year
in the central Piedmont (Prince Edward and all surrounding counties) were
selected because either 1) They were listed as rare in eBird, 2) They were
seen outside of their normal date range, or 3) It was the only sighting of
an uncommon/unusual species all year. Availability of photos was a plus as
well. Overall, it was a great year for grassland birds and waterfowl but a
poor one for shorebirds. Enjoy some of the wonderful stats and highlights
from the year:
2018 County Stats
———
Prince Edward: 194 species ~2800 checklists
Appomattox: 158 species ~1160 checklists
Buckingham: 159 species ~600 checklists
Nottoway: 149 species ~430 checklists
Lunenburg: 142 species ~350 checklists
Cumberland: 141 species ~260 checklists
Amelia: 138 species ~200 checklists
Charlotte: 130 species ~210 checklists
That’s a total of ~6010 complete checklists for Central Virginia in 2018!
(Slightly up from ~5850 checklists submitted during 2017.) While total
checklists were down significantly for just one county (-370 PE), most
other counties showed some grow in both number of species reported (+25 NO)
and checklists submitted (+200 NO). Despite Prince Edwards's decline we did
reach an awesome milestone during 2018 of over 10,000 checklists submitted
for the county. These numbers are a great example of "more birding equals
more birds."
Highlight Species
———
Prince Edward:
Tundra Swan at Sandy River Reservoir, Jan. 1
— https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S42309440
Greater White-fronted Geese at Sandy River Reservoir, Jan. 4-9
(First county and third regional record!)
— https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S41622036
— https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S41781820
Mute Swan at Wilck's Lake, Jan. 6
— https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S41688442
Palm Warbler at High Bridge Trail State Park, Jan. 6
— https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S41690676
Common Mergansers at Briery Creek Lake, Jan. 8
— https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S41755714
White-winged Scoter at Sandy River Reservoir, Feb. 9
— https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S42625652
— https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S42622545
Surf Scoter at Sandy River Reservoir, Mar. 3
— https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S43354364
Vesper Sparrow on Fairgrounds Road, Apr. 9
— https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S44404646
— https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S44411825
Glossy Ibis at Sandy River Reservoir, Apr. 25
(Second county and regional record!)
— https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S44930420
Bay-breasted Warbler at Wilck's Lake, May 4
— https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S45269108
Least Sandpiper at private farm, May 5
— https://ebird.org/atlasva/view/checklist/S45447938
Scarlet Tanager (yellow male) in Prince Edward-Gallion SF, May 6
— https://ebird.org/atlasva/view/checklist/S45372311
Bobolinks on Heights School Road, May 8
— https://ebird.org/atlasva/view/checklist/S45561618
Wilson's Warbler & Canada Warbler at Wilck's Lake, May 9
— https://ebird.org/atlasva/view/checklist/S45561608
Ring-necked Pheasant on Heights School Road, May 17
— https://ebird.org/va/view/checklist/S47772645
Mississippi Kites at Twin Lakes State Park, Jun. 19
— https://ebird.org/va/view/checklist/S48053159
Cliff Swallows (nesting) at Sandy River Reservoir, Jun. 20 - Jul. 2
— https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S46932154
— https://ebird.org/atlasva/view/checklist/S46687897
Mute Swan at Sandy River Reservoir, Jun. 25
— https://ebird.org/atlasva/view/checklist/S46806235
Sanderling at Briery Creek Lake, Jul. 23
— https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S47414502
Laughing Gull at Briery Creek Lake, Jul. 31 - Aug. 3
(Third county and regional record!)
— https://ebird.org/va/view/checklist/S47573425
— https://ebird.org/atlasva/view/checklist/S47582594
— https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S47582741
— https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S47870523
Herring Gull at Briery Creek Lake, Aug. 8
— https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S47870274
Black Swans at Sandy River Reservoir, Aug. 8
— https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S47727201
Little Blue Herons on US 360, Sep. 3
— https://ebird.org/va/view/checklist/S48261117
Forster's Terns at Briery Creek Lake, Sep. 6
— https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S48464593
Laughing Gull at Sandy River Reservoir, Sep. 17
— https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S48707048
Common Terns at Sandy River Reservoir, Sep. 17
— https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S48579264
Black Tern at Sandy River Reservoir, Sep. 18
— https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S48587815
Brown Pelican at Sandy River Reservoir, Sep. 20-23
(First county and regional record!)
— https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S48630942
— https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S48668389
— https://ebird.org/va/view/checklist/S48705265
Blue-winged Warbler at Wilck's Lake, Sep. 27
— https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S48776152
Common Gallinule (dead) on Fairgrounds Road, Oct. 8
— https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S49060500
Surf Scoters at Sandy River Reservoir, Oct. 26
— https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S49476700
Vesper Sparrows at Green Bay Road Pond, Oct. 28
— https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S49528097
Tundra Swan at Sandy River Reservoir, Nov. 17
— https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S50006771
Great Egret at Sandy River Reservoir, Nov. 20
— https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S50089742
Vesper Sparrow at Sayler's Creek Road Pond, Dec. 22
— https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S50866950
Appomattox:
Long-tailed Duck at Holliday Lake State Park, Jan. 1-3
— https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S41583420
Green-winged Teal at Holliday Lake State Park, Jan. 1
— https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S41525199
Common Mergansers at Bent Creek Boat Ramp, Jan. 13
— https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S41879028
Bonaparte's Gull at Holliday Lake State Park, Apr. 7
— https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S44346913
Red-breasted Merganser at Holliday Lake State Park, Apr. 8
— https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S44453332
Cerulean Warbler at Appomattox Community Park, May 3
— https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S45213730
Dickcissels along Swan Road, May 8 - Aug. 5
— https://ebird.org/atlasva/view/checklist/S45789353
— https://ebird.org/atlasva/view/checklist/S45806872
— https://ebird.org/atlasva/view/checklist/S46285401
Common Merganser (& BAORs) at Bent Creek Boat Ramp, Jun. 26
— https://ebird.org/atlasva/view/checklist/S46821711
Bay-breasted Warbler at Holliday Lake State Park, Sep. 30
— https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S48854002
Blue-headed Vireo at Holliday Lake State Park, Nov. 19
— https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S50061834
Long-tailed Duck at Holliday Lake State Park, Dec. 6-12
— https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S50489384
Buckingham:
Common Merganser at James River State Park, Jan. 30
— https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S42371280
Redhead at James River State Park, Jan. 13
— https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S41987649
Vesper Sparrow at James River State Park, Apr. 2
— https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S44199252
Bobolinks on Planterstown Road, May 12
— https://ebird.org/atlasva/view/checklist/S45606740
Dickcissel on Belle Branch Road, May 21
— (Checklist currently unavailable)
Worm-eating Warblers on Spears Mountain Road, Jul. 6
— https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S47044645
Vesper Sparrows on Francisco Road, Oct. 27
— https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S49499557
American Bittern at James River State Park, Nov. 19
— https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S50064747
American Goldfinch (pale bird) on Deer Run Road, Dec. 1
— https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S50339113
Long-tailed Duck at Holliday Lake State Park, Dec. 6-12
— https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S50480356
Common Goldeneye on private lake, Dec. 15
— https://ebird.org/va/view/checklist/S50691819
Nottoway:
Common Mergansers at Piedmont Geriatric Hospital, Jan. 11
— https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S41825629
Brant at Piedmont Geriatric Hospital, Jan. 14 - Mar. 25
(First county/regional and second piedmont record!)
— https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S41893876
— https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S43961478
Merlin at Piedmont Geriatric Hospital, Mar. 19
— https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S44171454
Snowy Egret at Piedmont Geriatric Hospital, Apr. 25
(First county and fourth regional record!)
— https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S44948045
Bobolinks on Cottage Road, May 9
— https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S45652101
Brown-headed Nuthatches on East Courthouse Road, May 31 - Jun. 13
— https://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S46385314
Swallow-tailed Kite on Jennings Ordinary Road, Jul. 29
(First county and second regional record!)
— https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S47518538
Great Egret on East Courthouse Road, Aug. 1
— https://ebird.org/atlasva/view/checklist/S47595379
Black Tern & Pectoral Sandpiper at Nottoway Lake, Sep. 18
— https://ebird.org/va/view/checklist/S48593797
Ross's Goose at Piedmont Geriatric Hospital, Nov. 27
(First county and fourth regional record!)
— https://ebird.org/va/view/checklist/S50263239
Bonaparte's Gulls in Blackstone, Dec. 11
— https://ebird.org/va/view/checklist/S50595833
Lunenburg:
Bonaparte's Gull at Nottoway Falls, Mar. 9
— https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S43510638
Solitary Sandpiper on High Tower Road, Apr. 27
— https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S45000309
White-crowned Sparrows on Fowlkes Road, Oct. 18
— https://ebird.org/va/view/checklist/S49272971
Cumberland:
Common Ravens on High Bridge Trail State Park, Jan. 18
— https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S42079412
Marsh Wren at Bear Creek Lake State Park, Apr. 22
(First county and second regional record!)
— https://ebird.org/atlasva/view/checklist/S44841755
Gray-cheeked Thrush on Sports Lake Road, May 21
— (Checklist currently unavailable)
Barn Owls at High Bridge Trail State Park, Jun. 10
(First county and second regional eBird record!)
— https://ebird.org/atlasva/view/checklist/S47421843
Merlins at High Bridge Trail State Park, Oct. 8
— https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S49067494
Amelia:
Common Goldeneye on Military Road, Jan. 20
— https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S42100430
Brown-headed Nuthatches on private property, Apr. 26
— https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S44987924
Dickcissel on Chula Road, Jun. ?
— (Checklist currently unavailable)
Lincoln's Sparrow at Amelia WMA, Oct. 21
— https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S49343699
Charlotte:
Barn Owl on River Road, Mar. 13
(First county and regional eBird record!)
— https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S43687067
Little Blue Herons at private lake, Jul. 25
— https://ebird.org/atlasva/view/checklist/S47446601
Black-crowned Night-Herons on the Staunton River, Sep. 8
(First county and fifth regional record!)
— https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S48370110
Prince Edward County Missed Species (seen in 2017 but not 2018)
———
Black Scoter
Long-tailed Duck
White Ibis
Snowy Egret
Black-crowned Night-Heron
Bank Swallow
Lincoln's Sparrow
(Lots of shorebird misses due to high water at lakes all summer.)
Evan Spears
Vice President
Margaret Watson Bird Club
Farmville, VA
