Folks,
*Quick Notes*
Pleasure House Point Natural Area - 4:25 - 6:35 PM - FOY Peregrine Falcon,
FOY Little Blue Heron, FOY Yellow-crowned Night-Heron, also 2 Tricolored
Herons for the second time this week on a flyby. No new migrant songbirds;
only shorebirds were 2 Greater Yellowlegs.
*Outing Photographs*
*http://www.rbnature.com/galleries/we-20150405/
<http://www.rbnature.com/galleries/we-20150405/>*
*Full Outing Details*
Beautiful weather continued for a third straight day today, so I made it a
point to get out for another birding trip. Earlier today, Back Bay NWR
posted on their Facebook page that they opened the East Dike in lieu of the
West Dike due to the amount of wildlife still taking up residency closer to
the west side. I'd hoped this was just an April Fool's joke, but it appears
that hope won't come to fruition. The East Dike parallels the West Dike en
route to False Cape State Park, but it lacks the views over water that the
West Dike has on both sides, and also doesn't have a forested section, so
my excitement from yesterday was taken back a bit today. Anyway, because of
this switch, I opted not to head to Back Bay today after work, and instead
headed up to Pleasure House Point.
Right off the bat, parking along Marlin Bay Drive, I had some *Carolina
Chickadees* and *Northern Mockingbirds* fly past while getting my camera
all squared away. A good sign when you're still setting up, and birds are
already present. Unlike yesterday, where the winds were roaring and keeping
all the songbirds at bay, today's weather was a very pleasant 53 degrees F
and sunny & calm. I headed into the park on the sandy trail, splitting the
two largest lakes en route to the shoreline of Pleasure House Creek. On the
largest pond, I encountered a few *Mallards*, a *Hooded Merganse*r hen, and
a pair of *Buffleheads*. After heading away from the lake, walking
eastward, I caught a flash in front of me, as a *Cooper's Hawk* cruised
just above the ground towards me, right down the trail. It banked off about
20 feet away, but it was one of the neater things I've witnessed this year,
as it headed straight towards me with wings spread far, just gliding above
the ground. I was so stunned, I didn't even raise my camera, it was
something else! A few minutes later, as I was nearing the largest bend in
the trail, another bird of prey appeared overhead, moving very swiftly
across the sky. This one was no Cooper's though, and it turned out to be an
adult *Peregrine Falcon*, my first of the year. I got some photographs of
it overhead, but I was staring right towards the sun, so I caught the
shaded side of the bird. Fortunately, thanks to the ability of photoshop to
help lighten up a photo, I could verify the facial mask of the Peregrine
(see photos at link above). After all the excitement, I kept on eastward,
noting a few common birds on the way to the mudflats, like *Yellow-rumped
Warblers*, *Song Sparrows*, and a *Savannah Sparrow*. Along the trail it
appears that park staff or City of Virginia Beach personnel have set up
fences to seemingly protect the high marsh grasses between the Brock Center
and the creek itself. The trail it appears, will be re-routed to allow for
the grasses to be rehabilitated in this area (just a guess on my part), but
anyway, you'll need to take a slight detour en route to the mudflats from
the west. I find it a bit ironic that this change occurred a day after I
noted a big change along First Landing State Park's Osprey Trail...two
parks I constantly visit, and have for years, and now changes show up at
the same time essentially.
At the mudflats, *Laughing, Ring-billed, Herring & Great Black-backed Gulls*
were visible, and a few *Brown Pelicans* were also situated on open patches
as well. I didn't see any shorebirds, and no terns were noted today
unfortunately. A pair of *Horned Grebes*, presumably the same ones from
Monday evening, were swimming in the channel in front of the mudflats, and
a group of 16 Buffleheads was off to the southwest side. I did my usual
quick walk up to the stormwater pond at Dinwiddie Drive, but for the third
time in a row now, it was completely empty, and it appears now might be the
time of year to stop checking it for ducks as they're exiting our region in
lieu of northern lands. Walking the shoreline trail back to the far western
part of the park turned up a pair of *Greater Yellowlegs* on the biggest
bend in the trail's cove. Near the western end, a heron-looking bird flew
past out on the creek and I initially thought it might be the Green Heron
that was spotted last week. No such luck...however, when I raised the
camera, it turned out to be a *Little Blue Heron* adult, another
first-of-year bird for the outing! Having seen *Tricolored Herons* on
Monday, I couldn't believe I was adding another heron to my list this week.
Near the same area, as a dog and its owner passed me on the trail, I raised
my head to find a *Yellow-crowned Night-Heron* staring at me from the
shoreline! Another first-of-year bird, and I'm very excited to have finally
found my first at the park this year, just a week or so later than last
year's first ones showed up. After this I continued on the west edge of the
park, then turned around again and headed east. Shortly after making the
turn, a pair of *Pine Warblers* entertained me for about 15 minutes,
jumping from branch to branch, and doing their best job of staying in the
shade where I couldn't photograph them. I did get a few decent shots off
though finally (see above link). The trip eastward was pretty quiet until I
reached the area where a lot of folks stop to look for Clapper Rails. Here,
a group of 3 individuals were fishing in the creek, and as I walked past
them, a pair of herons flew by with bright white underparts, yellow legs,
and blueish upper bodies, clearly *Tricolored Herons*. Unbelievable, I
tacked on *Snowy Egrets*,* Great Egrets*, and *Great Blue Herons *as
well...so it was one heck of a day for wading birds!
Not a minute after the Tricoloreds flew past, a *Sharp-shinned Hawk* came
gliding in right over top of me, and again, I was able to get a couple
slightly fuzzy photographs (see link above) as it sped past. Continuing
east, the mudflats had all but disappeared as the tide had come in, but the
gulls were all still standing, with water now surrounding their legs. I
headed back to the west for one last trip across the park. On this trip, I
knew where to find my Night-Heron, and spent some time photographing it
along the shoreline before moving onward. At the far western section of the
creek, a single *Red-breasted Merganser* and a pair of *Green-winged Teals*
were observed on the water's surface. Above them, in a tree were perched 7
Great Egrets. At this point, the sun was getting low behind the far trees,
and so I headed back, making a loop around the largest lake and then
exiting the park for the evening. I never expected to see the variety of
species that ended up showing themselves today, but it just goes to show
you that with birding, anything can happen!
Rob Bielawski
Virginia Beach, VA
www.rbnature.com
