Today, I had the pleasure of birding with Jeff Blalock, Paul Glass and Mary
Foster at Staunton View Park, located near the borders of Mecklenburg, Halifax
and Charlotte Counties. It has not been a good year at Staunton View, typically
a hotspot in the southern piedmont for late summer shorebirds, herons and
egrets, due to high water levels. However, today was the lowest it's been this
year and there was a strip of mud and grass flats showing that had shorebirds.
Best shorebirds were 2 adult AMERICAN GOLDEN-PLOVERS. Other shorebirds included
KILLDEER, SEMIPALMATED PLOVER, LESSER YELLOWLEGS, SPOTTED, SOLITARY, PECTORAL,
SEMIPALMATED and LEAST SANDPIPERS and the first WILSON'S SNIPE of the fall. Our
day wasn't over there because Mary decided to check some scrubby edges where
she found an empidonax flycatcher that she described as being quite yellow. We
tracked down the bird and identified a very handsome YELLOW-BELLIED FLYCATCHER,
a rare migrant for sure in our neck of the woods. The bird of the day, however,
came shortly after when Paul got a glimpse of a rail near the shoreline of
Staunton River State Park that went unidentified for what seemed like an
eternity. We waited and the rail finally came out into the open for all to see
and we were shocked to be looking at a CLAPPER RAIL. The bird was fairly
cooperative and we all hope the photos came out. Other noteworthy birds
included 3 CASPIAN TERNS, 3 BLUE-WINGED TEAL and an early GREEN-WINGED TEAL.
Good birding.
Adam D'Onofrio
Dinwiddie Co.
