Greetings...
Sue Heath and I spent Sunday and Monday doing some birding in the
southeastern corner of the state. Sunday had us at Back Bay by around eight
AM, then a quick stop at Stumpy Lake, over the CBBT, and a few stops on the
Eastern Shore. Monday morning was spent at the Great Dismal Swamp NWR, and
then a drive along US 58 to Emporia before heading north.
In short, we didn't have anything completely unexpected. I think we had 130
species for the day-and-a-half of birding, but the list of misses is pretty
impressive. A big total wasn't the desire.
We were hoping for moorhens, bitterns, rails, ibis, kites and anything
unexpected at Back Bay. We walked down the westernmost road just shy of
False Cape State Park, perhaps three miles. Of all the targets, the only one
we managed was White Ibis with a group of eleven adults in flight near the
end of the walk, close to the parking area. A couple cattle egrets were
nice. One problem with the morning was that we were battling wind and hoping
to not get poured on. The wind was consistent at about ten to fifteen MPH,
gusting to twenty MPH at times. We only had a couple sprinkles, with the
more ominous looking storms staying north. Surprising was how quiet the
woods were at the southern end of the refuge. We only had a few birds in
there, and we had to fight for them. It was a tough morning, and we were
both glad to be back at the car around noon-thirty.
Stumpy Lake didn't have an Anhinga, or at least if it did, we missed it. My
two previous sightings of Anhinga at Stumpy were on the north side of the
causeway. There was only one cormorant on that side on Sunday.
The CBBT was mostly uneventful with a few gannets around, a bunch of
Sanderling, a couple Red-breasted Mergansers, and three Black Scoters. More
interesting were the passerines with two Blue-gray Gnatcatchers and one Marsh
Wren on the islands. There were a handful of Savannah Sparrows scattered
across the islands. The parking area at the northern end of the bridge
afforded close views of a breeding plumage common loon.
Once on shore we went to Ramp Road hoping for ammodramus sparrows and sedge
wren. We dipped on the former and might have had one of the latter.
We headed up to the intersection of 600 and 645 for the Eurasian
Collared-dove. While it is presumably only a matter of time before these
things are all over the state, it is somewhat sad to watch this lonely bird.
It was calling when we arrived and eventually well seen.
Willis Wharf and Oyster were the next two stops. Whimbrel at both, with
about forty seen at Willis Wharf, and only a dozen or so at Oyster. I didn't
make a close count of the Marbled Godwits at Willis Wharf, though another
birder said he tallied about eighty. Seemed to be at least fifty skimmers
there, and there were sixty-three at Oyster. Oyster was the story as far as
shorebirds go. There were thousands of birds well out of reach of our
scopes. As the tide came in, smaller groups of them would move onto some of
the closer mudflats and oyster beds. The vast majority of the birds we saw
were Dunlin in various stages of molt. There were a handful of Short-billed
Dowitchers and a couple Black-bellied Plovers as well. There was one Hooded
Merganser on the upstream most end at Oyster, paddling along in the salt
water. The most notable birds at Oyster were three Brant.
After dinner at Stingrays, we headed back into the Eastern Shore of Virginia
NWR. Our goal was Chuck-will's-widow, and we got at least three of them. No
owls, but we didn't make much effort.
We crossed back to the Tidewater, lucky enough to enjoy a pretty decent
electrical storm in the darkness from the CBBT. We eventually found Suffolk,
and spent the night there. I think Suffolk needs a better motel than the few
we found, but perhaps we missed one.
We arrived at the Great Dismal Swamp NWR at about six-ten AM. It was still
pretty dark as we made our way along Jericho Ditch Lane. Many birds were
getting water or minerals from the puddles and puddle edges along the road.
Most were too dark too see until we were on them, causing them to flush. We
did see a couple ovenbirds and an unidentified waterthrush at the puddles.
As mentioned in a previous post by Bob Ake, there was a Swainson's Warbler
calling from the north side of the road, near the downed tree with the
pink/orange survey tape on it. I clocked this spot on the way out, and I
think it was right at the 1.5 mile mark from the main drag (about a half mile
from the parking area). I was able to get a fair look at this bird, as it
was on my side of the car. Once we got out of the car, we never got a good
look at it again, only seeing it fly a couple times.
When we got to the parking area, we walked south along the Ditch to the point
where the road crosses over the ditch. We had seven more Swainson's calling
along this stretch (there was a second bird heard from the road near the
parking area for a total of nine at Jericho). We never got close to a look
at any of these birds. While Swainson's Warbler was a new species for me
today, I was much more impressed by the numbers of Prothonotary Warblers. I
can't fathom a guess at how many we had, but at no point during the morning
could you not hear a couple singing. Perhaps more indicative of the numbers
was that seemingly each time we would catch movement of something and get on
it, it turned out to be a Prothonotary. In the northern part of the state,
we usually have to be patient and work a little harder for looks at them.
It's great to see them in an area where they are doing well.
Other birds of note along Jericho Ditch Lane and along the Ditch itself were
one Eastern Pewee, two Acadian Flycatchers, lots of Great-crested
Flycatchers, Ovenbirds, Hooded Warblers, Common Yellowthroats and prairie
warblers; a few white-eyed vireos, white-throated sparrows, a couple Parulas,
one Worm-eating Warbler, one Louisiana Waterthrush, a Northern Waterthrush, a
Black-throated Blue, and probably a couple other neo-tropical species that I
am forgetting. We had an American Bittern working the Ditch near the
southern end of our journey, and it eventually took the turn and continued
along the Ditch out of sight.
From Jericho we went over to Washington Ditch. At the gate there was a
singing Worm-eating Warbler. Still tons of Prothonotaries and Ovenbirds.
Two Swainson's were in this area, as well as one Black-throated Green, two or
three Redstarts, and a Northern Waterthrush. Three more Acadian
Flycatchers. We didn't make it down Washington Ditch very far. We were able
to see the entrance gate the entire time, maybe a half mile.
After departing Dismal, we worked our way over to US 58 and drove to Emporia
before heading north. We were really hoping for a kite, but that wasn't to
be today. We did pull over for one poorly seen raptor, and ended up on a
road that runs north not too far east of Emporia. There is a prison on this
road. Near a pond on the right we had an adult Bald Eagle. When we turned
the car around, we could hear a Yellow-throated Vireo and a Summer Tanager
singing. A few hundred yards away we heard a second YTVI.
It was a fun couple of days spent birding. We padded our year lists a bit,
but didn't add anything too difficult to find. Thanks to Bob Ake for his
postings at Dismal, and Ned Brinkley for the suggestion of doing Back Bay and
hiking to False Cape State Park. Despite the conditions and the lack of
birds, it was a nice hike and good birding.
Cheers...
Todd
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Todd M. Day
Jeffersonton, VA
Culpeper County
BlkVulture@xxxxxxx
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