Yes indeed! It is a little early to look for Swainson's Warblers,
but with the beautiful day expected I thought I'd take a walk along
Washington Ditch this morning to see what birds were about. It was a
bit cold (24F) but it warmed to 43F by the time we left. There was
absolutely no wind, one of those days when you could hear forever. The
woodpeckers were the main event with all but Red-headed putting in an
appearance. Carolina Wrens dominated the vocalization as they usually
do. Winter Wrens, Hermit Thrushes, and Fox Sparrows were very nice.
The Fox Sparrows were clustered along the boardwalk near the parking
lot. We only had one real feeding flock which didn't contain any of the
rarer wintering birds I look for on these walks. Perhaps most important
I did not encounter any Rusty Blackbirds during the walk and believe me,
it would have been easy to hear them flipping leaves or squeaking with
it being as calm as it was this morning.
With this walk I'm beginning my series of roughly weekly walks in
the swamp. I rotate among the three westside entries - Jericho Ditch,
Washington Ditch, and Railroad Ditch. I choose the particular date for
the following week at the time I submit the report to va-bird. My
choice is based primarily on a best guess as to which date the following
week will have the best weather. The date chosen is always on a week
day. As a mild exception I've chosen next week's walk to be on MLK day,
Monday, January 19, 2015, which is a holiday. I plan to start walking
from the parking lot at the end of Jericho Ditch Lane at 7:30am. No
reservation is necessary; just show up. The walk usually finishes
before noon.
Here is the bird list for today's walk. Gray squirrels were the
only mammal seen.
Dismal Swamp NWR Washington Ditch, Suffolk, US-VA
Jan 11, 2015 9:00 AM - 11:50 AM
Protocol: Traveling
3.0 mile(s)
27 species
Wood Duck 4
Black Vulture 1
Turkey Vulture 1
Mourning Dove 1
Barred Owl 1
Red-bellied Woodpecker 6
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker 2
Downy Woodpecker 6
Hairy Woodpecker 4
Northern Flicker (Yellow-shafted) 5
Pileated Woodpecker 4
Blue Jay 4
Carolina Chickadee 5
Tufted Titmouse 2
Winter Wren 4
Carolina Wren 13
Golden-crowned Kinglet 1
Ruby-crowned Kinglet 3
Hermit Thrush 7
American Robin 3
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle) 10
Fox Sparrow (Red) 9
Song Sparrow 4
Swamp Sparrow 2
White-throated Sparrow 9
Dark-eyed Junco (Slate-colored) 4
American Goldfinch 4
Hope to see you on a future Dismal Swamp walk
Bob Ake
Norfolk VA
