I stopped by Craney Island yesterday around noon. I don't have many chances
to get to a computer on weekends, so I had to wait until today to post. The
northeast corner of the north impoundment at Craney looked unchanged
habitat-wise, but there were no birds there. There are a few pools here and
there in the north impoundment, along the north side of it. I walked along
the edge of the impoundment and saw a few interesting birds.
One drying pool held some peep that were close enough to avoid the heat
waves. So, I spent a lot of time trying to ID most of them, but my peep ID
skills still leave a lot to be desired. There was a small flock of peep
that appeared to be likely candidates for Western Sandpiper. They had a
uniform gray color on the back, relatively long, slightly decurved bills,
and little gray on the upper breast. One bird looked like a juvenile and
looked similar to the picture in Sibley's guide. They always stayed in the
water, not at the water's edge. Sibley's guide suggests this habit as a
trait of Western Sandpiper. I have not had a lot of luck in IDing Westerns
in anything other than adult breeding plumage, so I don't want to say that
they were Westerns for sure. There were also a few White-rumped Sandpipers
here. I thought the juvenile looked possibly like a juvenile Baird's
Sandpiper, but realized I was pulling at straws (I think). Most of the peep
appeared to be adults.
Savannah Sparrows and Horned Larks were here and there.
The other good spot for shorebirds was the pool on the west side of the
south impoundment. The highest concentration here has shifted to the south
shoreline. There are ducks present as well. The majority are Northern
Shoveler and Mallard, but there are a fair number of Northern Pintail,
Blue-winged Teal, Green-winged Teal, and Black Duck. I saw an Osprey at the
nest on the west side of Craney. I had not noticed them for the past few
weeks, but I have not been looking for them. The Caspian and Royal Terns
are still around, with a flock loafing on the west shoreline of the island
(with Laughing, Herring, Ring-billed, and Great Black-backed Gulls and Brown
Pelicans and Double-crested Cormorants). I have not seen any ducks out in
the bay yet.
Overall, I think the number of shorebirds at Craney has dropped over the
past several weeks. Maybe a cold front will bring more in, but weather
effects on bird migration is another area where I need knowledge. There
were a few planes skywriting "GEICO.COM" and "HEINKEN" over and over again
in the sky. I hope they did not believe that it was safe to drink a beer
while flying a plane with car insurance :).
As always, just listening to the birds around Craney is neat.
Here is a list of the shorebirds seen and the other unusual birds.
Tricolored Heron (4 juv. at the north impoundment, north side)
Killdeer
Semipalmated Plover
American Avocet (15, west shoreline of the south impoundment)
Greater Yellowlegs
Lesser Yellowlegs
Stilt Sandpiper (>20, southwest corner of the south impoundment)
Pectoral Sandpiper
Red Knot (1, on the south shoreline, west side of the south impoundment)
Sanderling
Ruddy Turnstone (2, at the west shoreline of the south impoundment)
Willet (1, at the west side of the south impoundment)
White-rumped Sandpiper (3, 2 ad. w/ 1 juv. at a drying pool in the north
impoundment, north edge)
Western Sandpiper (probable 5-10 birds near the White-rumps)
Semipalmated Sandpiper
Least Sandpiper
Wilson's Phalarope (3, swimming at southwest corner of the south
impoundment)
Black Tern (1, sitting on the west shoreline of the south impoundment)
Peregrine Falcon (1, briefly seen over the west side of the south
impoundment)
Elisa Enders
Portsmouth, VA
_________________________________________________________________
Express yourself instantly with MSN Messenger! Download today - it's FREE!
http://messenger.msn.click-url.com/go/onm00200471ave/direct/01/
You are subscribed to VA-BIRD. To post to this mailing list, simply send email
to va-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx. To unsubscribe, send email to
va-bird-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with 'unsubscribe' in the Subject field.
