Since we met at the headquarters for a Railroad Ditch walk, I
decided to wait for an auto permit. So we didn't leave the headquarters
until 7:30am. But the parking area had good birds anyway including
Summer Tanager and the first of our many Red-headed Woodpeckers. I was
joined by Ann McDowell from Virginia Beach although Linda Lapanne from
NY and Pam Hunt from NH birded with me while they too waited for a
permit. The technique I use when birding from the car is to drive
0.4mi, stop, get out and bird, get back in the car, and repeat this
pattern for the length of the survey. It works well, allowing some of
the best of both worlds, but still not quite as good as simply walking.
It was a beautiful day but the birdsong was somewhat diminished and
some of the local nesters (like Harry Woodpecker and White-breasted
Nuthatch) went untallied. No hawks were recorded and no Barred Owls
responded to my calls. Nice shows from Yellow-billed Cuckoos which
could be called in with a vocal imitation of their calls.
But the big story for me was the impact of the burned out region
near the lake. The remaining dead trees have become magnets for
Red-headed Woodpeckers. The open area has also attracted many Blue
Grosbeaks which seem to filer in to the rest of the swamp from that
fire-generated opening. The areas with water are attractive to
shorebirds. We had Solitary Sandpipers, Lesser Yellowlegs, and a Least
Sandpiper in an area we could see well from the road. There were
probably more shorebirds further away and out of view. A pair of
Northern Bobwhites, many Killdeer and Mourning Doves were also seen
along the road in the burned area. It will be interesting to follow the
succession of species as this area revegetates. However, make no bones
about it: I'd rather have the forest intact as it was before the fire.
We did have a bear sighting along the way, but I didn't count
butterflies. It was noteworthy that at one point I had a dozen each of
Red Admirals and Questionmarks on the road in front of the car. The big
showy b'flies are really putting on a show this spring. Can't say the
same thing for the skippers, though.
My schedule has become a bit unpredictable, so I'm not going to set
a date for another swamp walk now. I'll try to post if/when I go
again. The complete bird list for the walk is given below.
Dismal Swamp NWR Railroad Ditch, Suffolk, US-VA
May 7, 2012 7:00 AM - 10:30 AM
Protocol: Traveling
6.0 mile(s)
52 species
Wood Duck 3
Northern Bobwhite 3
Great Blue Heron 2
Turkey Vulture 14
Killdeer 6
Solitary Sandpiper 2
Lesser Yellowlegs 1
Least Sandpiper 1
Laughing Gull 7
Mourning Dove 16
Yellow-billed Cuckoo 7
Red-headed Woodpecker 12
Red-bellied Woodpecker 3
Downy Woodpecker 1
Northern Flicker (Yellow-shafted) 2
Pileated Woodpecker 3
Eastern Wood-Pewee 7
Acadian Flycatcher 3
Great Crested Flycatcher 15
White-eyed Vireo 6
Red-eyed Vireo 2
Blue Jay 1
Carolina Chickadee 4
Tufted Titmouse 3
Carolina Wren 7
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 1
Eastern Bluebird 2
American Robin 1
Gray Catbird 2
Brown Thrasher 1
Ovenbird 2
Worm-eating Warbler 1
Louisiana Waterthrush 1
Black-and-white Warbler 1
Prothonotary Warbler 18
Swainson's Warbler 1
Common Yellowthroat 8
Hooded Warbler 5
American Redstart 3
Northern Parula 1
Pine Warbler 4
Prairie Warbler 2
Eastern Towhee 3
Chipping Sparrow 2
Summer Tanager 1
Northern Cardinal 6
Blue Grosbeak 8
Indigo Bunting 9
Red-winged Blackbird 8
Common Grackle 11
Brown-headed Cowbird 5
American Goldfinch 1
This report was generated automatically by eBird v3 (http://ebird.org)
