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Below are the results of our weekly shorebird/gull survey conducted at
Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge on Friday Sept. 6, 2013. All water areas
(impoundments and beach areas) were covered in a 9 hour survey. All individuals
are counted for the target species; other birds seen or heard on the survey are
followed by a dash.
With no recent rains, water is limited to just two of the Refuge's
impoundments. Therefore, most of the shorebirds were found on Old Fields
Impoundment (north of the Service Road turn-around) and Swan Cove Impoundments
and along the beaches. Despite the limited shorebird habitat, over 4,000
shorebirds were counted of 20 species.
As we have grown to expect while birding the Refuge, suprises continue to
impress us with 2 buff-bellied sandpipers, the first of the fall season. The
bar-tailed godwit continues to be visible from Beach Road. We now have over 200
lesser black-backed gulls mostly on Wild Beach. Non water bird highlights
included a lark sparrow, the second seen on the Refuge this fall and a small
flock of bobolinks, a species that is regularly found in fall migration nearer
the southern end of the Virginia Eastern Shore but was the first time we have
recorded it on the Refuge. Our next survey is Sept 12. Clyde Morris & Joelle
Buffa
Canada Goose --
Mallard --
Green-winged Teal --
Red-breasted Merganser --
Double-crested Cormorant 97
Brown Pelican 42
Great Blue Heron --
Great Egret --
Snowy Egret --
Little Blue Heron --
Tricolored Heron --
Cattle Egret --
Green Heron --
White Ibis --
Glossy Ibis --
Black Vulture --
Turkey Vulture --
Osprey --
Northern Harrier --
Bald Eagle --
Clapper Rail --
Black-bellied Plover 98
Semipalmated Plover 472
Piping Plover 15
Killdeer 1
American Oystercatcher 13
Spotted Sandpiper 5
Greater Yellowlegs 37
Willet 359
Lesser Yellowlegs 186
Whimbrel 2
Bar-tailed Godwit 1
Marbled Godwit 10
Ruddy Turnstone 16
Sanderling 1,957
Semipalmated Sandpiper 331
Western Sandpiper 1
Least Sandpiper 208
peep sp. 559
Pectoral Sandpiper 9
Buff-breasted Sandpiper 2
Short-/Long-billed Dowitcher 34
Laughing Gull 324
Ring-billed Gull 180
Herring Gull 348
Lesser Black-backed Gull 222
Great Black-backed Gull 285
Least Tern 6
Caspian Tern 15
Common Tern 25
Forster's Tern 165
Royal Tern 481
Sandwich Tern 14
Black Skimmer 80
Mourning Dove --
Belted Kingfisher --
Northern Flicker --
Eastern Wood-Pewee --
Eastern Kingbird --
Fish Crow --
crow sp. --
Tree Swallow --
Carolina Chickadee --
Brown-headed Nuthatch --
Carolina Wren --
American Robin --
European Starling --
Cedar Waxwing --
Pine Warbler --
Lark Sparrow 1
Northern Cardinal --
Bobolink --
Red-winged Blackbird --
Eastern Meadowlark --
Boat-tailed Grackle --
Brown-headed Cowbird --
