Hi all,
On Sunday 3/10 Vic Laubach and I left Waynesboro early (5:20am) for a trek out
to the coast in hopes of finding year and life birds. In all we found 72
species including 1 lifer for me, 6 lifers for Vic, 16 year birds for me, and
25 for Vic. It was quite a fun day indeed!
We started at Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge where along the boardwalk,
among 41 species highlights included 262 Tundra Swans, 24 Gadwall, 13 Wigeon, 5
Black Ducks, 4 Shovelers, 4 Hooded & 1 Red-breasted Mergansers, 5 Great Egrets,
1 Harrier, 1 Bald Eagle, 3 Forster's Terns, 1 Kingfisher, 15 Waxwings, 1
Orange-crowned Warbler (great looks and photographed!), and 2 Boat-tailed
Grackles. We spent a good long while on the Back Bay beach, looking east and
counting northbound flying waterbirds (presumably migrating?). Highlights
included 70 Surf & 35 Black Scoters (Vic lifer), 94 Red-breasted Mergansers, 16
Red-throated (Vic lifer) & 6 Common Loons, 43 Northern Gannets, 12 Brown
Pelicans, 11 American Oystercatchers, 28 Sanderlings, 2 Bonaparte's Gulls, and
1 Gull-billed Tern (great, clear scope view flying north, Black, thick bill
with black through eyes but top of head still white (non-breeding), black legs.
Tail not nearly as forked as Forster's
Tern. Very white except for black in trailing edge of primaries. White tail).
(Vic lifer).
Next, on our way over the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel, we stopped off at
Island #1 (South Thimble Island) where our highlights included 39 Greater and
equal number of Lesser Scaups, all 3 scoters (2 Surf, 1 White-winged..lifer for
both of us, 13 Black), 139 Long-tailed Ducks, 6 Buffleheads, 5 Red-breasted
Mergansers, 1 Red-throated Loon, 7 Horned Grebes, 23 Gannets, 2 Great
Cormorants (Vic lifer), 1 Brown Pelican, 3 Ruddy Turnstones, 8 Sanderlings, 2
Purple Sandpipers (Vic lifer), and 5 Tree Swallows.
At the Eastern Shore of VA NWR, we added another Harrier, another B Eagle,
Brown Creeper, in addition to a boat load of Yellow-rumped Warblers. Here's a
link to some of Vic's photos from today:
http://vehawk.smugmug.com/BirdingPhotos/Back-Bay-NWR-3102013/28373386_TLHJGH#!i=2402362347&k=9FBC9jv
Thanks to Vic for a really fun day and for driving all that way and good
birding to all,
Gabriel Mapel
New Hope, Va
