VA-BIRDERS: I AM SENDING THIS MESSAGE FOR JOHN GALLEGOS AT BACK BAY
NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE IN VIRGINIA BEACH, VA - DSS
The Western kingbird was first seen at about 7:45am on Wednesday, December
12th at the Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge weather station, in front of
the Refuge headquarters building. It spent the entire day there and this
morning there. It is perching on the fence around the weather station and
on the orange cables (photos) that support the station's mast. It appears
to be feeding on insects that have been very active for the past few days,
because of the mild weather this week (in the 70's and up to 80 yesterday)
that set new high temperature records for Virginia Beach at this time of
year.
Cesar Freytes of our staff was the first to notice the strange bird with a
yellow breast out of my office window. He pointed it out to me, and I
automatically assumed it to be a great-crested flycatcher which are common
here; until I got my binoculars on it. Couldn't figure it out until we
checked our bird books and found its picture. Kyle Barbour, Manager of
adjacent False Cape State Park stopped by that morning. He told me he had
a camera and telephoto lens in his truck, so he shot the two photos that we
now have at about 9:30am.
As I sit typing this, the bird is still present, and may hang around as
long as food is so readily available. Should be building up some good body
fat for any lengthy flights it might undertake. Hope this is helpful.
John G.
John B. Gallegos, Wildlife Biologist
U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
Back Bay N.W.R.
4005 Sandpiper Road,
Virginia Beach, VA 23456-4347
E-Mail: John_Gallegos@xxxxxxx
Phone: (757) 721-2412/3896
Fax: (757) 721-6141
http://backbay.fws.gov
