Fellow Bird Enthusiasts,
Over the weekend, I had the opportunity to check out some of what Richmond
has to offer birders during the month of May due in part to a Friday
wedding, and a Saturday funeral I was in town for. Unfortunately on Friday
night after the wedding reception, heavy rains kept me from seeking out the
Common Nighthawks around the baseball stadium, and those very rains
continued on into early Saturday morning. However, I never like to spend a
Saturday indoors, so I drove from the hotel on the west end, over to the
James River Park system, parking at the Reedy Creek entrance. From the car,
a Northern Parula could be seen singing in the parking lot; a good start I
felt. I walked the Buttermilk Trail to the west towards 42nd Street,
crossed the footbridge, and then worked back along the gravel maintenance
road that parallels the railroad tracks. On the way, a Carolina Wren was
observed carrying a pretty spider back to its (assumed) nest, a nice CF
Carrying Food (Confirmed) observation for the Atlas, and I "found" an
Eastern Phoebe nesting in the box culvert that carries the waters of Reedy
Creek underneath the railroad tracks to its outlet into the James. I say
"found" because I'm sure many an Atlaser has logged this over the past
couple of seasons. But, it was a neat bird for me to see, and I watched as
it caught food several times, carrying it back to the nest site in the
culvert for another CF Carrying Food (Confirmed) report. Along the trip,
Yellow-throated Warbler, American Redstart, Prothonotary Warbler, Common
Yellowthroat and Ovenbird were also heard, for S Singing Male (Possible)
documentation, and many a non-breeding Blackpoll Warbler was heard as well.
Thanks go to Lewis & Nikola for getting me on the beautiful breeding male
Redstart!
Photographs & Atlas Information:
http://ebird.org/ebird/atlasva/view/checklist/S36785992
During the afternoon, I did a little Atlasing around downtown Richmond,
parking down near the river just east of the Robert E. Lee Bridge to Belle
Isle. Immediately after getting out of the car I could see mass numbers of
Cliff and various other (Barn, Tree) Swallows working over the river's
surface. Watching the swallows, I was able to see them rising up to their
nesting colony on the underside of the bridge superstructure. At one point,
an American Kestrel flew in out of (seemingly) nowhere and landed sideways
on a group of the 'gourds'. Immediately mobbed by the adults, the kestrel
had to cut and run swiftly. After the excitement, a pair of Baltimore
Orioles flew in over me and landed nicely in a tree near the river. In
keeping with my morning them of CF breeding codes, the female here was
carrying what appeared to be a dragonfly, so I was able to claim another
Carrying Food confirmation for the day, and my first oriole confirmation so
far in the Atlas. Lastly, a brood of fledgeling Canada Geese could be
distantly seen across the river.
Photographs & Atlas Information:
http://ebird.org/ebird/atlasva/view/checklist/S36795953
For those "Listservers" who have not yet embraced the use of eBird or the
2nd Virginia Breeding Bird Atlas, I kindly ask that you check it out! For
more information on the project, now in its 2nd of 5 years of study, please
see the official project website, www.vabba2.org, the Facebook Page,
https://www.facebook.com/vabba2/, or request to join the official Facebook
Group, https://www.facebook.com/groups/VABBA2/, where other Atlasers are
posting observations and asking whatever questions they might have about
the project! This is a golden opportunity for anyone interested in birds to
help make a difference. Your observations go a long way in providing
valuable bits of information about the lives of our state's breeding birds!
Rob Bielawski
Virginia Beach, VA
