Hello Virginia Birders,
Good News the boardwalk at the Ragged Island Wildlife Management Area
(site #1 on the Tidewater Loop of the Virginia Birding and Wildlife
Trail
http://www.dgif.virginia.gov/vbwt/site.asp?trail=1&loop=CTW&site=CTW01)
has re-opened! Storms in November of 09 damaged the boardwalk
extensively forcing its closure. Repairs have been completed and the
boardwalk is ready for birding. While the boardwalk is a bit shorter it
still traverses the marsh and terminates with a view of the James River.
I took a visit see the newly refurbished boardwalk last week and was
treated to nice views of RED-HEADED WOODPECKER- apparently breeding
along the trail, a family of EASTERN KINGBIRDS, a pair of perched PURPLE
MARTINS (plus more in flight) and of course CLAPPER RAILS! Further out
onto the boardwalk I had a great look at a flying SEASIDE SPARROW in
very worn plumage and heard two more. Surprisingly missed out on
brown-headed nuthatch - one of the few times I haven't had them at this
site. I had to wait to post that the boardwalk was open until the final
inspection of the repairs was completed.
The full list is below.
Happy Birding,
Stephen Living
Watchable Wildlife Biologist
Virginia Dept. of Game & Inland Fisheries
Location: Ragged Island WMA - CTW01
Observation date: 7/14/10
Number of species: 22
Double-crested Cormorant 21
Great Blue Heron 2
Black Vulture 3
Turkey Vulture 2
Osprey 2
Clapper Rail 5
Laughing Gull 4
Mourning Dove 4
Chimney Swift 5
Red-headed Woodpecker 2
Eastern Kingbird 4
American Crow 2
Purple Martin 7
Tree Swallow 4
Carolina Chickadee 2
Carolina Wren 5
Pine Warbler 1
Seaside Sparrow 3
Northern Cardinal 1
Red-winged Blackbird 8
Common Grackle 3
Brown-headed Cowbird 3
This report was generated automatically by eBird v2(http://ebird.org)
