Folks,
*Highlights*
North Beach - 6:10 to 7:35 PM - 42 Black Scoters seen flying northward in 2
flocks of 27 & 15 (both photographed) which are here way beyond their
tyopical 15 Apr late date, 5 species of terns seen (Caspian, Royal, Common,
Forster's, and Least), plenty of Brown Pelicans, Great Black-backed &
Laughing Gulls, 1 flock of Sanderlings on a fly-by & 1 single bird.
Non-birds, several Dolphins and Ghost Crabs seen.
*Outing Photographs*
*http://www.rbnature.com/galleries/we-20150524/
<http://www.rbnature.com/galleries/we-20150524/>*
*Full Species List(s)*
*http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S23553782
<http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S23553782>*
*Full Details*
Wednesday evening we had weather in the 70s near the beach with a slight
breeze and mostly sunny skies which made for a nice outing. My fiance & I
took a stroll down the north end of Virginia Beach's oceanfront area,
parking at 48th Street and walking northwards. The past few weeks I've been
trying to spot my first Caspian Tern of the year here in Virginia Beach, as
well as my first Common Tern, and while both species are indeed common and
have returned to the area weeks ago, I just haven't been able to ID one of
either. I've been seeing plenty of Royals and Forster's but no birds I
could unquestionably differentiate from these two species. So my main hope
for the walk was to get locate each of these species, which would round out
the common terns for my annual county list. On the walk north, the sun was
still fairly high in the sky and casting a good amount of light out onto
the water. Many *Brown Pelicans* flew past moving northward as well, some
in larger flocks, some singly. *Great Black-backed Gull *immatures and
*Laughing
Gulls* were seen continuously, most of the Laughing Gulls being part of
small groups. *Royal Terns* were easily the most numerous birds, with new
ones showing up every couple of minutes and passing us on their northward
tracks. The surprise was a flock of 27 *Black Scoters* flying northward far
out over the water at about the maximum of my binocular & camera range. A
second flock of 15 flew past about 15 minutes later, and that was it for
the scoters, which must be very late migrants since the Gold Book lists
their typical departure date at 15 April, well over a month ago.
We walked north to about 72nd street according to the GPS tag of a photo I
took when we turned around, making the round trip about 3.2 miles. Heading
southward, I finally got my first *Caspian Tern* of the year here in
Virginia Beach when a large tern flew past, showing off its bulky,
blood-red bill with black tip, and very black outer underwings. I snapped a
couple quick photos of this one to differentiate from all the Royals I'd
been seeing, some of which also had quite red bills being in heavy breeding
colors, but lacking the black tips. The next great surprise came as the sun
had fallen quite low, and a group of several smaller terns moved up the
shoreline. These were clearly either Forster's or Commons just based on the
size, and the bill size/color/shape. Viewing one of the birds for several
minutes as it circled and dove into the water, I could see a much grayer
underside to the bird that the typical Forster's show. This one was my
first *Common Tern* of the year, and I did get a couple of photographs
showing the much grayer body than the Forster's white body. Shortly after,
a *Least Tern* flew in and plunge-dove several times close to shore.
Unfortunately the lighting was now so poor that the birds barely showed up
when set against the sky as a background. But, set against the water, they
still showed up fairly well, and though I only got 1 photo of it near the
surface, it was good enough for an ID worthy shot. During the last stretch,
several Dolphins, which I assume were Atlantic Bottlenose though can't back
that up for certain, were seen close in to shore, moving northward like
most of the birds had been. We watched them rise out of the water every
half minute or so as they traveled along the coastline. Heading up from the
beach back to where I'd parked yielded some *Northern Mockingbirds*, *American
Robins, European Starlings, Boat-tailed & Common Grackles*, and an *Eastern
Towhee*, finishing off the list for the evening, but being too dark for any
photographs. With weather moving in on Thursday, it looks like Friday
evening will be the next opportunity for me to get out around the area,
hoping to add to my annual county list which sits at 170 species as of now!
*In-Depth Weekly Accounts & Photographs:*
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Rob Bielawski
Virginia Beach, VA
