VA BIRDers,
A fine mourning at Dyke Marsh (it was not outrageously hot and humid) as ca.
15 participants joined up for the regular Sunday Field Trip, sponsored by
the Friends of Dyke Marsh and free to all. We started off by viewing
Hunting Creek Bay and spotting many Great Egrets, Osprey, DC Cormorants, Am.
Black Ducks, Mallards, Caspian (young following adult with much calling) and
Forster's Terns, Spotted Sandpiper and a flyby Belted Kingfisher. The
shoreline was most productive as the weedy vegetation produced several E.
Kingbirds, Blue-gray Gnatcatchers, a Great Crested Flycatcher, Warbling
Vireo and Yellow Warbler, a few Common Grackles and Orchard and Baltimore
Orioles. High up a Purple Martin briefly chased an Osprey.
We checked the small forested patch between the picnic area and ramp road
and added Indigo Bunting perched nicely as it sang and we spotted more
orioles, gnatcatchers, hummers, and kingbirds. Plus we came across a group
of House Finch.
We trekked down Haul Rd and noted another Yellow Warbler, plus Brown
Thrasher, the local woodpeckers, Song Sparrows, Red-winged Blackbirds,
American Goldfinch, and many Carolina Wrens. The dogleg adjacent to the
marsh added Common Yellowthroat and two singing Marsh Wrens. Near trails
end we found an Eastern Wood Pewee. On the way back we heard a Red-eyed
Vireo singing.
Before the Field Trip I did a quick check of the Hunting Creek mudflats and
found Killdeer, Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs, and Least and Semipalmated
Sandpipers plus a few Wood Duck. I came back near 7pm and ran into Sherman
Suter who was doing an evening tally as the tide came in - he will post the
results of his observations later but I note that a Blue-winged Teal was
mixed in with the other dabblers. Overall, about 59 species were tallied
today at Dyke.
Kurt Gaskill
