A wonderful day indeed. Although the temperature was only 45F when we
started at 7:15am, it had risen to 75F by the time we left at noon. I was
joined today by Renee Hudgins and Elisa Enders for our walk down Washington
Ditch. From the parking lot you could hear Wild Turkeys gobbling and there
was at least one hen calling as well. Two toms were toe-to-toe ahead of us
down Washington Ditch before we began the walk. We had a curious River
Otter, a couple of White-tailed Deer, and a DOR short-tailed shrew on the
mammal list. The hoped-for Louisiana Waterthrushes had indeed arrived and
were vocalizing although they didn't come near enough to the road to be
seen. We again had a nice couple of flocks of Rusty Blackbirds. The Winter
Wrens were singing as was the Blue-headed Vireo. A flyover American Pipit
was calling or we wouldn't have known it was there. Woodpeckers were a bit
quieter today, but still in evidence. On the amphib side we heard lots of
Spring Peepers and fewer Brimley Chorus Frogs and Southern Leopard Frogs.
We got my first GDS butterflies of the year as you'd expect from the higher
temperatures. These included Eastern Comma 10, Question Mark 7, unid
anglewing 4, Mourning Cloak 7, Spring Azure 5, Henry's Elfin 6, American
Snout 1. The Six-spotted Tiger Beetles, those bright green jobs, were
zipping around us.
My next Dismal Swamp walk will leave from the Jericho Lane parking lot
at 7:15am, next Wednesday, March 23. Please join me. No reservation is
necessary; just show up. The complete bird list for today is below.
Robert L. Ake
6603 Catherine Street
Norfolk VA 23505
Location: Dismal Swamp NWR Washington Ditch
Observation date: 3/18/11
Number of species: 37
Wood Duck 15
Hooded Merganser 1
Wild Turkey 4
Turkey Vulture 6
Cooper's Hawk 1
Red-shouldered Hawk 2
Mourning Dove 1
Red-bellied Woodpecker 5
Downy Woodpecker 2
Hairy Woodpecker 2
Northern Flicker (Yellow-shafted) 3
Pileated Woodpecker 3
Blue-headed Vireo 1
Blue Jay 3
Carolina Chickadee 3
Tufted Titmouse 2
White-breasted Nuthatch 4
Brown Creeper 2
Carolina Wren 12
Winter Wren 3
Golden-crowned Kinglet 1
Ruby-crowned Kinglet 2
Eastern Bluebird 2
Hermit Thrush 2
American Robin 2
American Pipit 1
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle) 8
Louisiana Waterthrush 2
Eastern Towhee 2
Song Sparrow 1
White-throated Sparrow 8
Dark-eyed Junco (Slate-colored) 6
Rusty Blackbird 160
Common Grackle 5
Brown-headed Cowbird 2
Purple Finch 1
American Goldfinch 14
This report was generated automatically by eBird v2(http://ebird.org)
