VA BIRDers,
A group of 9 Fairfax Audubon Society members headed down to VA Beach and the
CBBT this past weekend to do a bit of coastal birding. Nearly everyone came
away with a lifebird or 10 and a fine time was had by all.
It was clear with blue skies but a bit cold and breezy Saturday, 1/17 when we
worked the CBBT islands in the morning. Each island held a good assortment and
I summarize the island totals here of species of general interest:
Red-throated Loon 6 (not much of a flight)
Common Loon 2
Great Cormorant 14
DC Cormorant 6 (near island 1)
Great Blue Heron 1
Gadwall 3 (#4)
Am Black Duck 7 (#3 & 4)
Greater Scaup 30
Lesser Scaup 30 (#2)
King Eider 1 (#3 imm male, the upper bill was not smooth)
Common Eider 7 (#2 & 4)
Harlequin Duck 1 (#3, mixed in with a scoter raft)
Surf Scoter 8000 (seveal large rafts!)
White-winged Scoter 15 (all islands)
Black Scoter 750
Long-tailed Duck 200
Bufflehead 100
Red-breasted Merganser 25
Ruddy Duck 2
Ruddy Turnstone 15
Sanderling 10
Purple Sandpiper 15 (all islands)
and the typical 3 gulls - no Bonaparte's or No. Gannets observed
We headed to the Eastern Shore of VA NWR next and noted a distant ibis flying
beyond the salt marsh near Ramp Rd. The pond at Ramp Rd held a great
assortment of dabbling or near dabbling waterfowl totalling over 100 birds.
On our drive up Rt 600 we encountered a first winter Peregrine Falcon with
radio transmitter afixed to its back. A nearby field held a few Horned Lark
and about 4 dozen each of Black-bellied Plover and Dunlin. No. Bobwhite called
from field edges near Oyster. Fox Sparrows were noted at a few stops.
No finch were at the Kipotopeke State Park feeders but the area near the
concrete ships held about 15 Common Loons on glass-like water - distant
Red-throated Loons could also be made out. And, near the impound stakes a half
dozen Common Goldeneyes lounged about.
We visited the the Eastern Shore of VA NWR again just after sunset to marvel at
the Am. Woodcocks flying in from their daytime feeding grounds (under pines) to
their nocturnal feeding grounds (the big fields there). There was no
displaying (perhaps a bit cold?) yet we tallied about 24 as we stood near the
main bunker.
To end the day we headed off for a bit of owling, finding a couple of E.
Screech Owls along Magotha Rd. At another location, our No. Saw-whet audio
lure brought forth breathy "wheeeo" notes from a possible saw-whet hunting
nearby.
The threat of rain Sunday morning kept us from going too far afield so we
stayed close to VA Beach. Our efforts at Lynhaven inlet netted the resident
Boat-tailed Grackles and more Common Goldeneyes. Plus a surprise - an Osprey!
We headed over to First Landing Park where we spied Lesser Black-backed Gulls
on the beach. The nearby edges brought forth many E. Towhees and a single Brown
Thrasher. We headed to Ft Story as the fog started coming in. We managed to
spot over a dozen Boneparte's Gulls here but visibility soon was severely
diminished to a few hundred yards.
Rain became a bit intermittant at this point so, after a visit to the always
interesting Waterfowl Museum near 12th and Atlantic and lunch at the Raven, we
headed out to the Snow Goose field near the Food Lion close to Pr Anne and
Sandgates Rds. We found about 1000 Snow Geese in the field - a few blue morphs
were sprinkled in the group.
We closed out the day at Stumpy Lake where a bit of walking produced the
hoped-for Brown-headed Nuthatches. And just as we climbed into our cars, the
deluge started! We headed home, tired but happy with our weekend efforts.
Let me thankfully acknowledge Karen and Tom Beaty and David Hughes and Audrey
Whitlock for kindly providing advice for our field trip.
Kurt Gaskill
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