Below are the results of our weekly shorebird/gull survey conducted at
Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge on Sunday April 19, 2015. All water areas
(impoundments and beach areas) were covered in a 7 hour survey. All individuals
are counted for the target species; other birds seen or heard on the survey are
followed by a dash.
Very strong North winds may have impacted the location of shorebirds on the
Refuge and our ability to find them. However, it was a fine survey anyway. We
counted 3,522 individual shorebirds of 13 species; both high counts for this
year. Dunlin still dominate with 2,702 individual birds, followed by Sanderling
337, Greater Yellowlegs 98 and Piping Plovers 47. Lots of individual Piping
Plovers and American Oystercatchers were seen in areas we have been seeing
pairs in the past weeks so they may have started nesting along the beaches of
the Refuge. One banded AMOY (with a field readable black band inscribed MM) was
observed on the Hook; we will input it into the AMOY working group database. We
found our first Whimbrel of the year, which is always exciting, as well as 7
Semi-plamated Plovers which is a bit early for them. There was a large northern
movement of Northern Gannets offshore of the Refuge which was a bit surprising
considering the strong northern wind they were facing. One lone Tundra Swan is
still on Snow Goose Pond which seems late to us.Our next survey is April
27.Clyde Morris and Joelle Buffa
| Canada Goose | -- |
| Tundra Swan | -- |
| Gadwall | -- |
| American Black Duck | -- |
| Mallard | -- |
| Blue-winged Teal | -- |
| Northern Shoveler | -- |
| Green-winged Teal | -- |
| Surf Scoter | -- |
| White-winged Scoter | 1 |
| Black Scoter | -- |
| Bufflehead | -- |
| Red-breasted Merganser | -- |
| Wild Turkey | -- |
| Common Loon | 9 |
| Horned Grebe | 1 |
| Northern Gannet | 304 |
| Double-crested Cormorant | 203 |
| Great Blue Heron | -- |
| Great Egret | -- |
| Snowy Egret | -- |
| Little Blue Heron | -- |
| Tricolored Heron | -- |
| Glossy Ibis | -- |
| Black Vulture | -- |
| Turkey Vulture | -- |
| Osprey | -- |
| Northern Harrier | -- |
| Bald Eagle | -- |
| American Oystercatcher | 16 |
| Black-bellied Plover | 29 |
| Semipalmated Plover | 7 |
| Piping Plover | 47 |
| Killdeer | 2 |
| Greater Yellowlegs | 98 |
| Willet | 30 |
| Lesser Yellowlegs | 4 |
| Greater/Lesser Yellowlegs | 2 |
| Whimbrel | 2 |
| Marbled Godwit | 25 |
| Ruddy Turnstone | 1 |
| Sanderling | 337 |
| Dunlin | 2,702 |
| peep sp. | 2 |
| Short-/Long-billed Dowitcher | 194 |
| Bonaparte's Gull | 1 |
| Laughing Gull | 8 |
| Ring-billed Gull | 6 |
| Herring Gull | 328 |
| Lesser Black-backed Gull | 33 |
| Great Black-backed Gull | 49 |
| Least Tern | 1 |
| Common Tern | 1 |
| Forster's Tern | 117 |
| Mourning Dove | -- |
| Northern Flicker | -- |
| Blue Jay | -- |
| American Crow | -- |
| Fish Crow | -- |
| crow sp. | -- |
| Horned Lark | -- |
| Tree Swallow | -- |
| Barn Swallow | -- |
| Carolina Chickadee | -- |
| Brown-headed Nuthatch | -- |
| House Wren | -- |
| Carolina Wren | -- |
| Blue-gray Gnatcatcher | -- |
| American Robin | -- |
| European Starling | -- |
| Common Yellowthroat | -- |
| Pine Warbler | -- |
| Yellow-rumped Warbler | -- |
| Yellow-throated Warbler | -- |
| Eastern Towhee | -- |
| Chipping Sparrow | -- |
| White-throated Sparrow | -- |
| Dark-eyed Junco | -- |
| Northern Cardinal | -- |
| Red-winged Blackbird | -- |
| Eastern Meadowlark | -- |
| Common Grackle | -- |
| Boat-tailed Grackle | -- |
| Brown-headed Cowbird | -- |
