Barbara Houston invited me to ride along with her on a day long photo
shoot/birding trip to Eastern Shore with the final destination being the
Wildlife Loop at Chincoteague at 3 pm
Highlights: VERY WINDY all day long. High winds suppressed the count of
woodland birds and the wind driven high tide in late morning diminished the mud
flats as the day went on. As a result, very few peeps anywhere. A few
Sanderlings seen at the beach at Assateague but we missed the challenge (!) of
identifying the little guys.
Highlight at Eastern Shore NWR was a Clapper Rail at the kayak launch at Ramp
Road. Amazingly, there were NO birds in the pond there.
As we headed north on Seaside Road, we counted at least 20 American Kestrels
diving for insects in the plowed fields and perching on the irrigation
structures and utility wires.
At the end of Magotha Road, we observed 4 immature White Ibis, 1 Snowy Egret, 2
Great Egrets, 2 Great Blue Herons, and a Red-tailed Hawk perched in the pines.
The most amazing feature at Oyster was the FULL pond at the waste dump site.
Lots of Canada Geese, Crows, Gulls, and Vultures hanging around but no habitat
for wading or shore birds there. Disappointing. Maybe the waterfowl will like
it later in the fall and winter.
At Willis Wharf, we had an American Redstart in the tree by the observation
platform. One lone Black Skimmer and a Forster's Tern. No wading birds. Gulls
and geese dominated -- nothing to get excited about except the redstart.
We arrived at Chincoteague about 1:15 and stayed until 7:00. Again the WINDY
conditions were the dominating feature. Unable to face into the wind to look at
birds. Unable to walk on the beach because we could barely stand up. Plus it
hurts when the wind sandblasts your legs and arms and covers your binocs, scope
and camera.
Below is the list I kept as we drove around the loop and back and forth to
Tom's Cove. White caps on the cove -- amazing. The weather instrument in the
Tom's Cover Visitor Center registered 30 MPH winds, described by the ranger
there as "enthusiastic."
The highlight for me was the White-cheeked Pintail, shown to us by Jennifer
Elmer, whom we encountered about 3:30 as we started around the wildlife loop.
The bird was easily seen among the other pintails/mallards/etc. The sun was
shining directly on the bird. Many thanks, Jennifer.
Other highlights were both Yellow-crowned Night Herons and Black-crowned Night
Herons coming in to roost directly across from Tom's Cove Visitor Center. Many
Willets and Black Skimmers in the back of pond where they've been for a week or
so. Plus 5 Marbled Godwits there.
We also observed an adult Bald Eagle attacking/chasing an Osprey.
Barbara got lots of great shots and I'm looking forward to her posting the link
to her photo album. Thanks to Barbara for driving all day and fighting the wind
on the CBBT coming home at 9pm.
Location: Chincoteague NWR - CES18
Observation date: 9/16/10
Notes: VERY WINDY. Unable to face into 30-35 MPH winds.
Number of species: 44
Canada Goose 12
American Black Duck X
Mallard 6 (we did not spend a lot of time scoping out the collection of
ducks/birds around the White-cheeked Pintail. See Jennifer Elmer's report for
Sept 16 for more birds in the Snow Goose pool)
Blue-winged Teal X
White-cheeked Pintail 1
Green-winged Teal X
Pied-billed Grebe 1
Double-crested Cormorant 1
Great Blue Heron 4
Great Egret 3
Snowy Egret 2
Little Blue Heron 3
Cattle Egret 5
Black-crowned Night-Heron 1
Yellow-crowned Night-Heron 3
Turkey Vulture X
Osprey 2
Bald Eagle 1
Killdeer 5
American Oystercatcher 6
Greater Yellowlegs 4
Willet 56
Greater/Lesser Yellowlegs 8
Marbled Godwit 5
Ruddy Turnstone 1
Sanderling 3
Short-billed Dowitcher (Atlantic) 1
Wilson's Snipe 1
Laughing Gull X
Great Black-backed Gull X
Caspian Tern 6
Forster's Tern 14
Royal Tern 3
Black Skimmer 86
Rock Pigeon X
Mourning Dove 4
Yellow-billed Cuckoo 1
Belted Kingfisher 4
Red-bellied Woodpecker 1
American Crow 2
swallow sp. 1
Carolina Chickadee 1
American Robin 1
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle) 1
Boat-tailed Grackle X
blackbird sp. X
House Finch 2
Shirley Devan
Williamsburg Bird Club
http://williamsburgbirdclub.org/
Board member, Virginia Society of Ornithology
http://www.virginiabirds.net/index.html
Ph: 757.813.1322
I'm now on facebook ...
