Dave Sonneborn and I visited the Jericho Ditch section of the Great
Dismal Swamp this morning prior to his hopping a plane and flying to NYC and
on to his home in Alaska. He had spent three days on Brian Patteson's
pelagics out of Hatteras. The temperature at 7:30am was 72F and there was
no wind. So it was easy to hear, but as the morning unfolded, it got a
little humid. We recorded 30 species of birds including 3 singing
Swainson's Warblers. One was along the entrance road and the other two were
south along Jericho Ditch near the banding station. Lots of Prothonotariy
Warblers and a male Hooded Warbler showed nicely. The cuckoos put on a good
show. We got a couple of Barred Owls to respond to our calling. But the
highlight of the day for me was seeing a black bear with two very small
cubs. When she started our way, we decided not to keep going hers. She
actually left the road, but we thought it best to give her plenty of room.
The cubs were really cute.
We did have some butterflies including Palamedes and Zebra Swallowtails
(inexplicably no E. Tigers!), some azures, a Red-spotted Purple, a Question
Mark, and a Mourning Cloak. The numbers were low, maybe in part because we
left the swamp at 10am so Dave could catch his plane.
The complete list is appended to the end of this email.
Robert L. Ake
6603 Catherine Street
Norfolk VA 23505
I did an ABA Big Year in 2010 - If you'd like to review it, my blog is at
http://bobsbirds.blogspot.com/
Location: Dismal Swamp NWR Jericho Ditch
Observation date: 6/1/11
Notes: Black bear with two very small cubs
Number of species: 30
Green Heron 4
Bald Eagle 1
Red-shouldered Hawk 2
Mourning Dove 4
Yellow-billed Cuckoo 5
Barred Owl 2
Ruby-throated Hummingbird 1
Red-bellied Woodpecker 5
Downy Woodpecker 2
Hairy Woodpecker 1
Pileated Woodpecker 4
Eastern Wood-Pewee 1
Acadian Flycatcher 4
Great Crested Flycatcher 5
White-eyed Vireo 5
Red-eyed Vireo 5
Carolina Chickadee 5
Tufted Titmouse 2
White-breasted Nuthatch 1
Carolina Wren 5
Gray Catbird 6
Prairie Warbler 6
Prothonotary Warbler 17
Swainson's Warbler 3
Ovenbird 4
Common Yellowthroat 5
Hooded Warbler 4
Northern Cardinal 2
Common Grackle (Purple) 4
Brown-headed Cowbird 2
This report was generated automatically by eBird v2(http://ebird.org)
