The weekend's cold front has been very productive for birding in Northampton
County, with many warblers still coming through in numbers (Cape May,
Black-throated Green, Black-throated Blue, American Redstart, Blackpoll,
Northern Parula, Palm, and a few Tennessees, one Bay-breasted, with Hooded,
Nashville, and Canada caught at the banding station). The surprise of the
weekend was a Yellow Rail in the garden at Sea Gate Bed & Breakfast, a block
from the beach on Tazewell Avenue, at 4:30 this afternoon. I would not have
seen the bird but for the b&b's resident cat, Mr. Kitty, who was inches from
the rail and ready to pounce - when I went up to the cat, the rail flushed
and landed on the garden path, showing its white inner secondaries before
running down the path and scampering off into the thick mass of pampas
grasses and ground cover on the west side of the house. I spent 20 minutes
poking and raking through the vegetation with the property owner, but no
further sign of the rail. This is the perfect time of year to encounter a
migrant Yellow Rail at this latitude (most have been detected in Virginia
4-25 October), but I did not expect for one to turn up in town. The marsh
sparrow survey has captured two Yellow Rails in the seaside marshes, east of
Cape Charles, in the past several years. This is only the third one I've
seen in Virginia, the other two being at Back Bay NWR.
Ned Brinkley
Cape Charles, Va.
