Pics are loading now and are at:
http://public.fotki.com/bhouston/miscellaneous/nature_pics/20120314-eastern-shore/?view=roll
It was a very quiet day for birds. The best activity was on the far end
of the beach down near the coast guard station. A quick stop in
Kiptopeke yielded a few birds, but heavy fog kept pics to a minimum.
Birds there included brown pelicans, mergansers, buffleheads, and
cormomrants. Nothing at the Eastern Shore NWF. Once on the island,
there was nothing until almost down to the beach. Across from the
visitors center there were a few willets, some northern shovelers, and
mallards.
The beach was the best with the highlight being the piping plovers.
Have a great weekend.
Barbara
Barbara Houston wrote:
Just a quick note about my visit to Chincoteague yesterday. They are working on the beach and parking areas, so everything to the right(south) of the traffic circle is closed. You can walk it, but no driving unless you get the off-road pass....which I did. After talking with the park ranger, she told me that there had been a sighting of plovers earlier that day and that it was the last day the beach would be open past the old coast guard station. I headed down the beach and saw about 5 different pairs of plovers, 6 pairs of oystercatchers, hundreds of willets, hundreds of sanderlings, some loons, and some gannets. If I hadn't have gotten the off-road pass, the day would have been a bust. The truck traffic has scared everything away from the road near Tom's Cove.
The wildlife loop was empty except for the bald eagle pair tending to their nest.
I will send a full write up and pics later.
Barbara
_______________________________________________
va-bird mailing list
http://mailman.listserve.com/listmanager/listinfo/va-bird
Thank you for subscribing to Va-bird, a service of the Virginia Society of Ornithology. Please consider joining the VSO.
http://www.virginiabirds.net/
