Below are the results of our weekly shorebird/gull survey conducted at
Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge on Monday March 6, 2017. All water areas
(impoundments and beach areas) were covered in the 6 hour survey. All
individuals are counted for the target species; other birds seen or heard on
the survey are followed by a dash.
It was another interesting shorebird survey at the Chincoteague National
Wildlife Refuge. We counted 1,464 individual shorebirds of 13 species. Dunlin
were the most common with 1,150 followed by Black-bellied Plover 130, Willet 89
and Greater Yellowlegs 32. The most exciting for us was our first sighting of
the year of a Piping Plover. This handsome male was doing its foot wiggling in
the sand as it tested the beach (just north of the Parking Lots) for
sub-surface food. The other highlight was an early Pectoral Sandpiper on South
Wash Flats.Our next survey will be March 20th.
Clyde Morris and Joelle Buffa
| Snow Goose | -- |
| Canada Goose | -- |
| Tundra Swan | -- |
| Gadwall | -- |
| Eurasian Wigeon | 1 |
| American Wigeon | -- |
| American Black Duck | -- |
| Mallard | -- |
| Northern Shoveler | -- |
| Northern Pintail | -- |
| Green-winged Teal | -- |
| Greater/Lesser Scaup | -- |
| Surf Scoter | -- |
| Black Scoter | -- |
| Long-tailed Duck | -- |
| Bufflehead | -- |
| Hooded Merganser | -- |
| Red-breasted Merganser | -- |
| Red-throated Loon | 26 |
| Common Loon | 122 |
| Horned Grebe | 46 |
| Northern Gannet | 127 |
| Great Blue Heron | -- |
| Great Egret | -- |
| Turkey Vulture | -- |
| Bald Eagle | -- |
| Red-tailed Hawk | -- |
| American Oystercatcher | 17 |
| Black-bellied Plover | 130 |
| Piping Plover | 1 |
| Killdeer | 7 |
| Marbled Godwit | 15 |
| Ruddy Turnstone | 4 |
| Sanderling | 26 |
| Dunlin | 1,150 |
| Pectoral Sandpiper | 1 |
| Short-billed/Long-billed Dowitcher | 8 |
| Greater Yellowlegs | 32 |
| Willet | 89 |
| Lesser Yellowlegs | 1 |
| Ring-billed Gull | 150 |
| Herring Gull | 182 |
| Lesser Black-backed Gull | 33 |
| Great Black-backed Gull | 44 |
| Forster's Tern | 11 |
| Mourning Dove | -- |
| Belted Kingfisher | -- |
| Red-bellied Woodpecker | -- |
| Northern Flicker | -- |
| Peregrine Falcon | 1 |
| American Crow | -- |
| Carolina Chickadee | -- |
| Brown-headed Nuthatch | -- |
| American Robin | -- |
| Northern Mockingbird | -- |
| European Starling | -- |
| Pine Warbler | -- |
| Yellow-rumped Warbler | -- |
| Dark-eyed Junco | -- |
| White-throated Sparrow | -- |
| Savannah Sparrow | -- |
| Song Sparrow | -- |
| Northern Cardinal | 1 |
| Red-winged Blackbird | -- |
| Eastern Meadowlark | -- |
| Boat-tailed Grackle | -- |
| American Goldfinch | -- |
