Today I ventured north into the rain and snow storm. I arrived at
Chincoteague about 1:30pm, the rain and snow having stopped. The wind,
however, was still howling out of the northeast. I parked the car in
the remnant parking lot south of the traffic circle at the beach and
scanned for the shorebird group but didn't see them. Got the scope out,
put my heavy coat on, and headed across the drifted sand to the water's
edge of Tom's Cove. A little to the south I could see some shorebirds,
so I walked in that direction. From time to time Willets and Marbled
Godwits flew up and were whipped around in the wind. At one point most
of the birds got up in the air and flew around in a big circle. A group
of about a dozen Marbled Godwits headed my way with an oddball among
them. Yep, that's Black-tailed Godwit, I thought. It landed a little
to the north, so I reversed course and walked back that way. I got
great looks at the bird feeding in the marshy area. I walked back to
the car and got my camera. When I returned, I refound the bird and got
some reasonable pictures, many with the bird's head below the water - a
hungry bird. I did manage one flight shot showing the white underwings
and the striking black and white tail. Neat bird. Spent about an hour
with it. There were no other crazy birders around during that time, nor
had any other birders written the sighting in the refuge log today. I
also saw three Piping Plovers and the American Avocet seen by others.
From the wildlife loop I saw two groups of male Blue-winged Teal
totaling 16 birds.
