Just photographed an adult black-headed gull in mostly breeding plumage on Swan
Cove. The Wigeon and the godwit are still in the same places as reported
earlier.
Ned Brinkley, Cape Charles, Virginia
Sent from my iPhone
On Mar 11, 2013, at 10:26 AM, Gabriel Mapel <birdmangabriel@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Hi all,
On Sunday 3/10 Vic Laubach and I left Waynesboro early (5:20am) for a trek
out to the coast in hopes of finding year and life birds. In all we found 72
species including 1 lifer for me, 6 lifers for Vic, 16 year birds for me, and
25 for Vic. It was quite a fun day indeed!
We started at Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge where along the boardwalk,
among 41 species highlights included 262 Tundra Swans, 24 Gadwall, 13 Wigeon,
5 Black Ducks, 4 Shovelers, 4 Hooded & 1 Red-breasted Mergansers, 5 Great
Egrets, 1 Harrier, 1 Bald Eagle, 3 Forster's Terns, 1 Kingfisher, 15
Waxwings, 1 Orange-crowned Warbler (great looks and photographed!), and 2
Boat-tailed Grackles. We spent a good long while on the Back Bay beach,
looking east and counting northbound flying waterbirds (presumably
migrating?). Highlights included 70 Surf & 35 Black Scoters (Vic lifer), 94
Red-breasted Mergansers, 16 Red-throated (Vic lifer) & 6 Common Loons, 43
Northern Gannets, 12 Brown Pelicans, 11 American Oystercatchers, 28
Sanderlings, 2 Bonaparte's Gulls, and 1 Gull-billed Tern (great, clear scope
view flying north, Black, thick bill with black through eyes but top of head
still white (non-breeding), black legs. Tail not nearly as forked as Forster's
Tern. Very white except for black in trailing edge of primaries. White
tail). (Vic lifer).
Next, on our way over the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel, we stopped off at
Island #1 (South Thimble Island) where our highlights included 39 Greater and
equal number of Lesser Scaups, all 3 scoters (2 Surf, 1 White-winged..lifer
for both of us, 13 Black), 139 Long-tailed Ducks, 6 Buffleheads, 5
Red-breasted Mergansers, 1 Red-throated Loon, 7 Horned Grebes, 23 Gannets, 2
Great Cormorants (Vic lifer), 1 Brown Pelican, 3 Ruddy Turnstones, 8
Sanderlings, 2 Purple Sandpipers (Vic lifer), and 5 Tree Swallows.
At the Eastern Shore of VA NWR, we added another Harrier, another B Eagle,
Brown Creeper, in addition to a boat load of Yellow-rumped Warblers. Here's
a link to some of Vic's photos from today:
http://vehawk.smugmug.com/BirdingPhotos/Back-Bay-NWR-3102013/28373386_TLHJGH#!i=2402362347&k=9FBC9jv
Thanks to Vic for a really fun day and for driving all that way and good
birding to all,
Gabriel Mapel
New Hope, Va
_______________________________________________
va-bird mailing list
http://mailman.listserve.com/listmanager/listinfo/va-bird
Thank you for subscribing to Va-bird, a service of the Virginia Society of
Ornithology. Please consider joining the VSO.
http://www.virginiabirds.net/
