Good morning all,
After part of the day at Bombay Hook on Saturday, August 20, we continued on to
Chincoteague to bird and spend the night.
As an earlier poster noted, the refuge is very dry. Black Duck Pond, Snow Goose
Pool and Shoveler Pool are bone dry. There was water in parts of the network of
ditches that had lots of Egrets, Herons, and Glossy Ibis, along with various
species of gulls feeding on minnows that were gradually being forced into
smaller and smaller pockets of water. The birds and the refuge could really
benefit from any rain that Hurricane Irene might bring.
Swan Cove had water in it, but also lots of it was dry.
There were lots of people out and about, mostly beach goers but a number of
birders as well. The newly re-paved Woodland Trail is a treat for walkers,
bikers, and bird watchers. While driving along the beach road Sunday morning,
we found a small group of horses not all that far from the road and the Cattle
Egrets were all around them and catching a ride as well.
Here's our list:
Double-crested Cormorant
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Snowy Egret
Tricolored Heron
Cattle Egret
White Ibis--two immature, along the ditch that borders the Beach Road.
Glossy Ibis--juveniles, feeding on minnows in a diminishing patch of water in
Shoveler Pool where the Wildlife Loop Road divides it from Snow Goose Pool.
Mallard
Black Vulture
Turkey Vulture
Osprey
Clapper Rail
Black-bellied Plover--one at Swan Cove
Semipalmated Plover
American Oystercatcher
Greater Yellowlegs
Willet
Spotted Sandpiper
Sanderling
Semipalmated Sandpiper
Laughing Gull
Herring Gull
Greater Black-backed Gull
Royal Tern
Forster's Tern
Black Skimmer
Mourning Dove
Downy Woodpecker
Eastern Wood-Peewee
Eastern Kingbird
Barn Swallow
Brown-headed Nuthatch
Carolina Wren (H)
American Robin
Gray Catbird
European Starling
Red-eyed Vireo
Pine Warbler
Northern Cardinal
Red-winged Blackbird
Common Grackle
And lots of mosquitoes along the Woodland Trail.
Jay and Carol Hadlock
Herndon, VA
