It was a fun day but there was nothing very exciting. The best birds were
three black terns flying back and forth at The Pocket, giving great views. I
checked all the usual places for shorebirds (Green Pastures Pond (Beulahville),
Rte 30/600 intersection cow farm, Woodburry Turf Farm (Walkerton Rd), Locust
Grove Turf Farm (Walkerton, King and Queen Co), and Frog Hollow Sod Farm (near
King William courthouse), as well as the Walkerton Bridge over the Mattaponi,
the Pocket and boat ramp at Moscow Creek on the Pamunkey). The tide was high
when I was at the Mattaponi and Pamunkey Rivers covering all sand/mud bars.
There were lots of killdeer at the turf farms and cow pastures (close to 100)
but not much else: 1 pectoral, 2 solitary, 1 spotted, 2 least, and 1 greater
yellowlegs. There were about 20 horned larks at Woodbury Turf Farm. I saw very
few landbird migrants (the best were 2 baltimore orioles and a northern
waterthrush along the Mattaponi
in Beulahville) and a notable absence of many of the normal residents who may
have headed south (prothonotary, LA waterthrush, chat, yellow-throated warbler,
ovenbird, kingbird, wood thrush). White-eyed vireos were still singing
vigorously in the hot sun and a couple red-eyed vireos were still feeding
full-grown fledglings along the river. The constant symphony of cicadas and
grasshoppers was amazing, soothing, hypnotic and hard to hear birds through.
I hope you have a great weekend 8>D
I'll be out with students on Monday so I might have more to report then.
All the best
Fred
Frederick D. Atwood fredatwood@xxxxxxxxx
Flint Hill School, 10409 Academic Dr, Oakton, VA 22124
703-242-1675
http://www.agpix.com/fredatwood
http://www.flinthill.org
http://tea.armadaproject.org/tea_atwoodfrontpage.html
