I thought I'd add my report on birding at Chincoteague yesterday (Saturday):
The Black-tailed Godwit showed nicely for most of the day, hanging out with a
group of over 30 Marbled Godwits. In the morning it was reported to be near the
Tom's Cove VC, but when I arrived around noon, accompanying birders from NJ
(fresh from seeing the male Tufted Duck at Parvin State Park in NJ), we were
told
it had flown across Little Tom's Cove. On our way over in that direction, we
were
met by a very helpful guy coming from there who took us and others to where he'd
just seen it, walking through the pony pen area to the beach. While we stood
there trying to locate it in a handful of Marbled Godwits, they all got up and
flew over the road to Swan Cove Pool. It is very striking and obvious in flight,
very different from the MAGO.
We got back to the road over there and then did locate it in with around 30
MAGO,
with which it hung out for the rest of the day. The whole group got up and flew
back and forth several times between the back/northwest part of the pool and the
front closer to the road, as eagles made passes and scared all the birds up,
sometimes creating big milling clouds of ducks and shorebirds. But the
Black-tailed Godwit was fairly easy to spot in with the Marbleds, as described
by
John Fox earlier on this listserve. There were LOTS of shovelers in that pool.
Some time in the middle of the day, the Black-headed Gull flew onto a sandbar
that sort of divides the front of Swan Cove from the back, then flew across
toward the beach, at which point I got a few photos. The American Avocet also
showed up around that time as well - this was not long after 2:00.
A few Piping Plovers were hanging out with a couple Black-bellied Plovers,
Willets and Sanderlings in the marshy reedy area south of the visitor center.
Many thanks to Ed Eders, who I ran into while watching the BT Godwit, for
pointing out the BH Gull to me, showing me the Piping Plovers, and also later
finding me a Lesser Black-backed Gull after I complained that I had never seen
one yet. The gannets were making a nice showing out over the water, coming in
closer than I've ever seen them before, and I got great views of oystercatchers.
We did make some effort to find the E. Wigeon out in the ducks seen from the
Wildlife Loop but didn't find it.
Apologies for my verbosity, but it was a marvelous day of birding, my four
lifers
bringing me up to 348! I spent today downloading too many photos off camera
cards
and am now editing them, so unfortunately they're not ready yet for me to show
you guys.
Happy birding!
Ashley Bradford
Alexandria, VA
