Arlington kites - I saw 2 near 18 and Utah at noon Fri and again about 5:00 pm
Fri
Sent from my iPhone
On May 20, 2017, at 8:50 AM, va-bird-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
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Today's Topics:
1. Breeding Codes and Migratory Birds (Ashley Peele)
2. Cliff Swallows Port Royal follow-up (Fred Atwood)
3. Arlington Kites - NOT TODAY (Donald Sweig)
4. Bath & Highland County Highlights (Peter Robinson)
5. Chincoteague Birding Trip - Day I (Rowe, Richard A, 'Dick')
6. Extra-limital weird Mallard (Lynn Rafferty)
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Message: 1
Date: Fri, 19 May 2017 11:24:49 -0400
From: Ashley Peele <ashpeele@xxxxxx>
To: va-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [Va-bird] Breeding Codes and Migratory Birds
Message-ID:
<CABonGT4Ts2_-97Ok6K8M+rk5e37GCcwA5wef-9kBTpLfCe21Gw@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
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Migratory birds, particularly those colorful, diverse species that spend
winter in the Neotropics and summer in the US, add a new dimension to
breeding data collection for the VABBA2. We get a lot of questions about
how to deal with such species in the context of the Atlas, so I've
summarized some important tips about migrants in a quick article.
Check out ?*Breeding Codes and Migratory Species
<http://ebird.org/content/atlasva/news/breeding-codes-and-migratory-species/>*?
on our Atlas eBird portal for the full story on coding migrants.
http://ebird.org/content/atlasva/news/breeding-codes-and-migratory-species/
Also, as we move closer to the heart of the breeding season, we're seeing
some great new breeding data coming in to the Atlas eBird portal. In fact,
here are the most recent stats...
*25,849 *checklists submitted to VABBA2 eBird portal
*>50%* of all Atlas blocks have received data
*241* species reported
*178* confirmed as breeders
(Data from: http://ebird.org/ebird/atlasva/subnational1/US-VA?yr=all)
This is fantastic progress for the start of our 2nd season! We've
already *added
10,000+ checklists to the VABBA2 dataset in 2017*! This *wouldn't be
possible without both our new and veteran volunteers*. Thank you all for
your great work on behalf of the VABBA2! Thank you for both joining and
sticking with the project. I think we're going to blow season 1 out the
water!
All the best,
Ashley Peele, PhD
Virginia Breeding Bird Atlas Coordinator
Conservation Management Institute - Virginia Tech
Office: 540-231-9182
Fax: 540-231-7019
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Message: 2
Date: Fri, 19 May 2017 11:31:24 -0400
From: Fred Atwood <fatwood@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: Va-bird <va-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [Va-bird] Cliff Swallows Port Royal follow-up
Message-ID:
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I was pleased to receive this email from the Environmental Specialist for
VDOT Fredericksburg in response to my questions about the swallows nesting
on the 301 bridge over the Rappahannock R.
Mr. Atwood,
My name is Steve Sharpeta and I work in VDOT?s Fredericksburg Environmental
Section. Thank you for your contact in reference to the swallows nesting
on the Route 301 bridge over the Rappahannock River. One of my
responsibilities is to conduct environmental compliance inspections on
projects. This is a project that I have been visiting for a year and
conducted my last inspection this past Monday on May 15th. Insuring that
work will not affect the nesting swallows is part of my inspection
responsibilities. After receiving your inquiry, I spoke with the senior
inspector about the project. As I had observed on Monday, the contractor
continues to work below the nests and is not impacting them. The senior
inspector has also met with the contractor to go over anticipated work for
the next three months to ensure we would not have a conflict with any
nests.
As a little background regarding our approach to migratory bird concerns,
VDOT is aware that many species utilize our infrastructure as nesting
grounds, particularly swallows. Due to this, a special provision was
developed to be included into contracts where migratory barn (Hirundo
rustica) and cliff (Petrochelidon pyrrhonota) swallows are known to nest on
or under bridges. This provision is a limitation of operations for the
protection of nesting swallows during the nesting season. Bridges are
evaluated by district environmental staff prior to the start of
construction and, when swallows are found to be nesting on our structures
and work may affect nesting, a time of year restriction (TOYR) is placed on
those activities from May 1st to August 15th of any year. Contractors
have an option to preempt nesting activities prior to the TOYR date,
provided no birds are observed actively nesting (i.e., eggs or young are
not present). These actions can include placement of netting, planking,
tarpaulins, and other means that prevent the birds from accessing former
nests or building new ones.
During the planning stages of work on the Route 301 Rappahannock River
Bridge, VDOT was aware of the presence of nesting sites for the swallows
and incorporated the special provision in the bid package and the
contractor was made aware of this special provision during the
preconstruction meeting.
Once work began in April of 2016, swallows were already present on the
bridge. VDOT coordinated with the nongame bird conservation biologist with
the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries about proposed work
(substructure concrete surface repair, concrete beam end repairs, bearing
replacement and concrete slope protection repairs) and potential concerns
for the nesting swallows. Due to the scope of work and the distance from
the nests, VDGIF did not anticipate activities having an adverse impact on
the swallows and agreed that work could occur during the TOYR as long as
activities continued to be away from the nests. We agreed to recoordinate
with them if nests are found to be in the way of critical construction
activities or if conflicts with the birds arise.
Regards
Steve
PS from Fred. Steve said I could share this email with the list serve but
that I should remove his contact info since questions are supposed to go
through VDOT's Customer Service first.
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Message: 3
Date: Fri, 19 May 2017 16:43:32 -0400
From: Donald Sweig <skybirds.d@xxxxxxxxx>
To: Va-Bird <va-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [Va-bird] Arlington Kites - NOT TODAY
Message-ID: <D9F839A9-CF5B-4E4D-9F9B-D76371F85F9A@xxxxxxxxx>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
I spent about an hour, from 10:15 to 11:15, this morning snd about 45
minutes this afternoon, from about 3:00 to 3:45, looking for Mississippi
kites around 17th and Utah in Arlington.
I did not see any birds perched or flying on either occasion.
I looked carefully repeatedly at where I had seen the bird perched
yesterday, and drove around and looked in all the places I had seen them
flying. Also, I just looked at E-bird reports and I do not see that anyone
has reported seeing them since yesterday late afternoon.
Maybe tomorrow.
Donald Sweig
Falls Church, Virginia
Sent from my iPad
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Message: 4
Date: Fri, 19 May 2017 21:27:02 +0000
From: Peter Robinson <pabirder@xxxxxxxxxxx>
To: "WS: Bird Sightings to VSO" <va-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [Va-bird] Bath & Highland County Highlights
Message-ID:
<DM5PR16MB18675FADB11BE99377B0478ED4E50@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"
Bath Co. Hidden Valley Area
Among the 28 species:
5 Yellow-billed Cuckoo (one seen from 50')
1 Black-billed Cuckoo (seen from 25')
1 Cerulean Warbler
1 Yellow-breastfed Chat
Highland Co. Big Valley Road
4 Golden-winged Warbler
1 Brewster's hybrid
Peter Robinson
Warm Springs VA
Sent via the Samsung Galaxy Note? 4, an AT&T 4G LTE smartphone
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Message: 5
Date: Fri, 19 May 2017 21:30:35 +0000
From: "Rowe, Richard A, 'Dick'" <RoweRA@xxxxxxx>
To: "va-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <va-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [Va-bird] Chincoteague Birding Trip - Day I
Message-ID: <9fff033e3203477f95d4d15936c19c54@xxxxxxx>
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I spent the past few days birding and mainly photographing at Chincoteague.
It was a good trip with nice weather, but a bit windy, which helped me take
good photos of birds in flight. I headed for the coast on Tuesday - stopping
at the Bay Bridge. There was a Black Scoter and Surf Scoter hanging out off
the jetty. There were Royal Terns, a few Spotted Sandpipers, Least
Sandpipers, and Sanderlings and of course the parking lot Ruddy Turnstones.
On the Bridge, I ran into Brian Taber, who was in search of an albatross
(don't know if he was able to track it down). Brian gave me directions to
the Scissor-tailed Flycatcher that was near Kiptopeke. It was right where
Brian said it would be (as a note, I did not find it this morning - Friday).
At Chincoteague, I checked for the Gull-billed Terns at Queens Sound Landing
- not present on Tuesday, present on Wednesday, not present on TH or Fri.
Black-necked Stilts were along the causeway from the mainland to the islands.
At the Refuge, they are paving the main road out to the beach - a bit of a
mess. Along the causeway to the beach there were numerous SB Dowitchers,
Dunlin, Semipalmated PL, Semipalmated SP, a few BB Plovers, gulls, Forster's
terns, a few Least Terns, Piping Plovers, Oystercatchers, and Skimmers.
There were lots and lots of shore birds in the wildlife loop, but most were
at a distance. Many herons and egrets along the Wildlife loop.
Over the next few days I'll be posting photos from my trip. If you're
interested I've posted photos of the Scissor-tailed FL, BB Plover, Dunlin,
Piping PL on my Flickr site.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/vmibiology/
Dick Rowe
VMI Biology Dept
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Message: 6
Date: Fri, 19 May 2017 18:25:56 -0400
From: Lynn Rafferty <radmom8992@xxxxxxxxx>
To: va-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [Va-bird] Extra-limital weird Mallard
Message-ID:
<CALiwRd3dEN+9eeRg7skyeL29hgv42bQUpiP6_t29DYoroXRK=Q@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
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Hi folks,
I didn't even see this in Virginia, but I had to share photos of this truly
"weird duck", a male Mallard, that I saw this week in Rochester, NY along
the Erie Canal. This looks like a very ordinary Mallard, wearing a
strange headdress. I'd love to hear if anyone has seen something like
this before on any species.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/92816502@N03/albums/72157680976531773
Thanks so much,
Lynn Rafferty
Oakton, VA
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End of va-bird Digest, Vol 121, Issue 21
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