Thursday I was in Richmond for a meeting of Richmond Audubon and a wonderful
program by Lynda Richardson, photographer extraordinaire, so I stopped by
Forest Hill Park. Blackpolls were feeding low in a huge red oak. Higher up
in the same tree was a group of 6 or more White-breasted Nuthatches.
Yellow-rumped Warblers shared the same real estate. One of them was a
dumpling without its tail.
Friday morning I met a group of Augusta County Bird Club members and Jan
Frye at Henricus Park. Indigo Buntings sang from every bush. A Blue Grosbeak
perched in the wire fence. Eastern Bluebirds and Tree Swallows compete for
nest boxes there. A Blue Jay completed the blue bird sweep for me. Among the
many birds I saw 2 Yellow-billed Cuckoos flying together, Prothonotary
Warblers, Orchard Orioles, and Yellow-throated Warblers but the highlight
was two glimpses of Least Bitterns from the first platform. Oh, and the dead
Black Snake/live Copperhead vignette that Jan starred in was a hit with all.
On the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel Island 1 were Ruddy Turnstones,
Sanderlings, Purple Sandpipers and American Oystercatchers. A Navy submarine
came through the channel with escort boats followed by an out-going aircraft
carrier and a destroyer coming into port which met mid channel. The sailors
on the destroyer saluted the ones on the deploying carrier for a very
poignant moment.
Crossing the causeway onto Chincoteague I spotted a couple of pairs of
Black-necked Stilts but a swirling storm of Laughing Gulls caught my eye as
a Bald Eagle stirred them on. The wildlife loop was filled with shorebirds:
Dunlin with black bellies; brown Sanderlings; Semi-palmated Plovers,
Dowitchers, and peeps. Black Skimmers loafed and preened with Forster's
Terns, Laughing and Herring Gulls. White and Glossy Ibis flew overhead.
Along the road to the beach Allen Larner picked out a Whimbrel with just its
head above the grass. At dusk we heard one Chuck-Will's-Widow at the pony
pen. As it got darker we were surrounded by what sounded like a dozen
singing their hearts out at the lighthouse parking lot. The mosquitoes
chased us out before the park ranger could.
--
Lee Loudenslager Adams
Suggett's Point Warsaw, VA
Fredericksburg, VA
