Tracy Tate & I had already made plans to bird at Back Bay today before we saw
the report of an Iceland Gull there. We did not find the Iceland Gull but
didn’t see any really large flocks of gulls there to scan either, although we
walked a couple of miles south on the beach.
We did spot a Red-necked Grebe on the side of the road as we drove into the
refuge; we notified refuge personnel who rescued it and put it in the surf. We
saw a few more Red-necked Grebes on the ocean while we were walking the beach.
Other birds of note were only a few Snow Geese, lots of Tundra Swans, a few
Blue-winged Teal (they might have been early arrivals as expected date on coast
is 15 Mar - FOY), all of the expected dabbling ducks, surprisingly we saw more
Black Scoters than Surf Scoters, 5 Forster’s Terns (FOY), 5 Tree Swallows (who
knows if these overwintered as they have been reported in small numbers all
winter along the coast or are early arrivals as expected date is 20 Mar), and a
single American Pipit.
Complete checklist at http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S17388636.
We stopped at Rudee Inlet and found the King Eider but no Iceland Gull there
either.
Rexanne Bruno
VA Beach, VA
