Apologies for the late report, but power was very recently restored to my house.
I went out to northern Suffolk, Lynnhaven Inlet, and Fort Story yesterday
(Sunday). There were lots of terns about, but nothing terribly unusual. I was
surprised by the number of Sandwich and Black Terns. In fact, at Fort Story,
Sandwich Terns were the most common tern species. At Fort Story, I thought I
was seeing distant Arctic Terns, but one finally turned and looked more like a
Common Tern. Very interesting, to me, was that most of the birds in northern
Suffolk and Fort Story were heading west.
Did see 36 Black Skimmers and 1 American Oystercatcher at the mudflats in
Lynnhaven Inlet at low tide.
I found a dead (decapitated) storm-petrel on the beach at Lynnhaven -- appeared
to be a Wilson's Storm-Petrel. Very saddening.
Many (about 30 to 50) Bottlenose Dolphins were off the cape at Fort Story. They
were heading west too.
I saw several swallows, all heading southwest up the Nansemond River. The ones
close enough to ID appeared to be Cliff and Tree Swallows, but while looking at
the field guide tonight, I started considering Cave as an alternative to Cliff.
I believe that they appeared more like a Cliff - with dark throats, but I did
have trouble getting a good view of their faces. Seems to early for a Cave as
well.
Congratulations to Ned on his sightings! I had to look up the Brown-chested
Martin. Wish I had been there.
Elisa Enders
Portsmouth, VA
