VA Birders,
Sorry for the late report -- I returned home yesterday evening and have not yet
had a chance to get this out until now.
I had a great day and a half of birding with Andrew Baldelli and friends this
weekend. I met up with Andrew and Fenton Day at Craney Island by 10:00 on Sat
where we spent about three hours working the shorebirds. I was extremely
excited to have close views of two female RED-NECKED PHALAROPES that had been
seen the day before! As an added bonus, there was a gorgeous female WILSON'S
PHALAROPE feeding beside the two female Red-necked! For a brief period of time,
I really did not know which Phalarope species to study/absorb. I find this to
be a great prolem to have :-) The birds were in a mixed flock of Semi-sands
which also included a STILT SANDPIPER. It was wonderful to watch the phalaropes
spinning while frantically feeding in close proximity of the Stilt Sand. Best
views of Phalaropes I have ever had and my first in VA.
Other birds at Craney included: 6 lingering Ruddy Duck, a calling Bobwhite near
the gate, an additional female WILSON'S PHALAROPE(!), BB Plover, Black-necked
Stilt, Semi Plovs, Oystercatchers, G Yellowlegs, Spotted Sand, Willets, Rutus,
1 Least Sand (only other peep; an estimated 3,200 Semis total), Dunlin, a dozen
or so SB Dows, Gull-billed Tern, many Least Terns on colony, Skimmers, 1 Bank
Swallow, 2 Warbling Vireos near the gate and Blue Grosbeak. It was an exciting
few hours.
On the way to the Eastern Shore, a quick stop on CBBT island #1 produced a few
lingering Purple Sandpipers, one LBB Gull, but nothing else too extraordinary.
We then met Andrew's friends from NY on Chincoteague Island before ending up in
Saxis Marsh for the evening. As we watched beautiful sunset we were entertained
by the many Marsh Wrens, Seaside Sparrows as well as calling Virginia and
Clapper Rails. A Northern Harrier was also of note.
On Sunday we first checked out Swan Cove from the north beach parking lot where
we had 3 Sandwich Terns associating with the Royal, Caspian, Common, Forster's
and Least. We then walked from the Woodland Trail parking lot to the Wildlife
Drive via Black Duck Marsh. The BH Nuthatches (as well as the usual passerines)
were as always fun to watch. Snow Goose Pool contained a decent number of
shorebirds including: one Black-necked Stilt, SH Dows, Dunlin, many Semi Sands,
some Semi Plovs, G Yellowlegs as well as two White-rumped Sands picked out by
Andrew and company. Waders were well represented and included: 6 White Ibis,
many Glossies, Little Blues, Tricolored, one BC Night-Heron on the walk over,
many Snowy Egrets, Great and a few Cattle but we could not locate the infamous
"Black-billed" Great Egret. Also in the area was a Gull-billed Tern, Black
Ducks, one Blue-winged Teal, one Bobwhite (heard), Orchard Orioles and a few
new trip birds.
Before leaving Andrew and I checked out Swan Cove and a bit of Tom's Cove
before it was over run with beach goers. 3-4 Piping Plovers had joined the cast
in Swan Cove as well as a small flock of Skimmers and one Common Loon in Tom's.
One immature Northern Gannet was seen over the ocean as well as small flocks of
Sanderlings. (The friends from NY had seen two distant Sooty Shearwaters from
the beach the day before but conditions were tough and we were not as
fortunate. They had also previously seen two Red Knots and Whimbrel on the
Refuge). About 10 Black-Necked Stilts were seen on the causeway as well as
another adult White Ibis on the way out.
We made another stop on island #1 heading south where we had up to 12 Purple
Sands. This seems incredibly late for these guys. All in all it was a great
weekend with 105 species seen in total.
Enjoy the rest of the holiday weekend!
Will McPhail
Washington, DC
