With a perfectly clear sky and absolutely no wind, radiative cooling
produced a starting temperature of 25F this morning at 6:50am in the parking
lot at the headquarters of the Great Dismal Swamp NWR. The walk, six miles
roundtrip, was just what a swamp walk should be. Without the wind the cold
was not a factor. Besides, it warmed nicely; when I left, the temperature
had risen to 55F. But before the inversion layer had been mixed, I could
smell the ozone, something that happens on bright winter mornings such as
this one. David Hughes joined me and helped point out Gray Tree Frogs,
Brimley's Chorus Frogs, and Spring Peepers singing in the swamp at the
intersection of Railroad and West Ditches. A raccoon and a few Gray
Squirrels were our only mammals. We had Red-headed Woodpeckers but again a
sapsucker kept us from a woodpecker slam. At the beginning of the walk
through the pines, many Pine Warblers were singing. We had a couple of
small groups and one larger group of Rusty Blackbirds that were
unfortunately just far enough from the road that we couldn't see them or do
a good job counting them. A very nice wedge of Tundra Swans were seen
flying north, calling as they went. A group of Wood Ducks seemed to
indicate they were moving as well. A pair of Red-shouldered Hawks appears
to have set up a territory not too far from the headquarters. On the way
out I ran into a group of mixed sparrows, Song, Fox, White-throated, and
Dark-eyed Juncos, that were feeding in an area that had recently been
burned. I really expected a butterfly today and perhaps they did come out
after I left. I will be out of the area next week. I'll post the time and
date of the next swamp walk when I return. The complete list of the birds
seen or heard this morning is appended to this email.
Robert L. Ake
6603 Catherine Street
Norfolk VA 23505
Location: Dismal Swamp NWR Railroad Ditch
Observation date: 3/2/11
Number of species: 44
Tundra Swan 100
Wood Duck 16
Black Vulture 2
Turkey Vulture 12
Red-shouldered Hawk 2
Mourning Dove 1
Red-headed Woodpecker 2
Red-bellied Woodpecker 11
Downy Woodpecker 4
Hairy Woodpecker 5
Northern Flicker (Yellow-shafted) 9
Pileated Woodpecker 6
Eastern Phoebe 2
Blue Jay 2
American Crow 3
Carolina Chickadee 6
Tufted Titmouse 5
White-breasted Nuthatch 2
Brown Creeper 1
Carolina Wren 14
Winter Wren 5
Golden-crowned Kinglet 1
Ruby-crowned Kinglet 5
Eastern Bluebird 3
Hermit Thrush 2
American Robin 30
Gray Catbird 7
Brown Thrasher 1
European Starling 1
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle) 4
Pine Warbler 9
Eastern Towhee 8
Fox Sparrow 2
Song Sparrow 5
Swamp Sparrow 3
White-throated Sparrow 45
Dark-eyed Junco (Slate-colored) 10
Northern Cardinal 4
Red-winged Blackbird 2
Rusty Blackbird 65
Common Grackle 15
Brown-headed Cowbird 1
House Finch 2
American Goldfinch 8
This report was generated automatically by eBird v2(http://ebird.org)
