I spent Sep 25-28 birding Chincoteague with Linda Mack; we were joined by Adam
D'Onofrio and Tina Trice on Sep 26. While land birds were scarce, shorebirding
was excellent. Most waders were in Snow Goose Pool (which was doused with a
good soak of rain Sunday night) and others were in Swan Cove Pool. We tallied
23 species of shorebirds including 2 American Golden-Plovers (9/25 only), the
juvenile Hudsonian Godwit that Ned Brinkley found remained through 9/27, a lone
Marbled Godwit in the 150+ "Western" Willet flock at Swan Cove, 5+ White-rumped
Sandpipers, 14 Stilt Sandpipers, 2 Buff-breasted Sandpipers on 9/26, and a
Wilson's Snipe.
The large tern flock loafing at the eastern edge of Swan Cove Pool contained 31
Caspian Terns, 80+ Royal Terns, 18 Sandwich Terns, a lone Common Tern, and 220
Black Skimmers (about 40% juveniles).
We found a sizeable flock of passerines at the south loop of the Island Nature
Trail (near the High School) on 9/27. The flock included Yellow-bellied
Sapsucker, 4 Red-breasted Nuthatches, and 12 sp. of warbler, with Bay-breasted
Warbler being the most noteworthy. Another good-sized songbird flock was along
the wildlife trail at Chincoteague NWR 9/28 that had Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Cape
May Warbler, 5 Black-throated Blue Warblers, 8 Yellow-rumped Warblers, and
Northern Waterthrush.
Always fun to bird Chincoteague, and looking forward to my next trip back to
the Eastern Shore in November on our annual foray with New Jersey Audubon/Sandy
Hook Bird Observatory.
Good Birding,
Scott Barnes
Senior Naturalist
Sandy Hook Bird Observatory
New Jersey Audubon
