Yesterday I spent the day in the Middle Peninsula. All morning I was at a
private 72 acre conservation area along the Mattaponi River near Beulahville
(Riverwood). From there I went to Walkerton (King and Queen Co) for a short
time, and finished the day in the vicinity of The Pocket (near Lanesville, King
William Co).
Pasted below are my totals for the day from eBird. I had 80 species for the day
including 12 warbler species, philadelphia vireo, and rose-breasted grosbeak.
Riverwood had lots of migrant passerines including male summer tanager, male
yellow-throated warbler, and male hooded warbler and 3 male redstarts all in
brilliant breeding plumage. The catbirds and thrashers were aggressive to each
other over Virginia Creeper berries high in the pines. Even though poke berries
were abundant nothing was eating them but were instead eating the VA creeper
berries. When I woke up from a nap on the shady banks of the upper Mattaponi
River at Riverwood a Yellow-billed Cuckoo was not far away in a giant sycamore
eating furry caterpiilars. It removed most of the fuzz by squeezing the
caterpiilar with its bill, working it all along its length and shaking the
caterpillar, the slight breeze carrying away the fluffy white hairs. Then it
swallowed the limp
scrawny-looking body. As the cuckoo searched for the caterpillars it reminded
me of a tropical trogon in its behavior. It perched on an exposed limb and
scanned the leaves, then flew up plucked a caterpillar from a leaf in flight,
and landed on another exposed branch to eat it.
All day long I was surprised that I did not see a single blue grosbeak or
indigo bunting. Then, at the end of the day, at a farm overlooking The Pocket
(Elsing Green), I found a flock of blue grosbeaks and a flock of indgo
buntings. Both the Mattaponi and Pamunkey Rivers were unusually high and there
was no exposed mud for shorebirds; and there were no shorebirds except 13
killdeer at the Woodbury turf farm. The Pintails in the Pocket were my first
for the season. The harriers were also new to the area for the season (though
I also had a harrier at Big Meadows in Shenandoah National Park on Saturday
with students). The Philadephia Vireo was in the shrubby and forested habitat
near the end of Pocket Rd just past the last house. The wild rice marshes at
Elsing Green were full of red-winged blackbirds, many of which were lacking
tails. An immature coopers hawk was nearby with a full crop and the remnants of
a blackbird still in its talons.
The day finished with another remarkable sunset and the raucous jabbering of
12,000 (or so) red-winged blackbirds.
Happy Autumn!
Fred
Canada Goose
168
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Wood Duck
10
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American Black Duck
2
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Mallard
40
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Northern Pintail
2
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Wild Turkey
7
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Pied-billed Grebe
3
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Great Blue Heron
10
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Great Egret
4
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Black Vulture
3
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Turkey Vulture
18
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Osprey
1
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Bald Eagle
6
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Northern Harrier
3
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Cooper's Hawk
1
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Red-shouldered Hawk
3
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Red-tailed Hawk
2
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Killdeer
22
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Solitary Sandpiper
1
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Laughing Gull
7
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Forster's Tern
2
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Rock Pigeon
5
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Mourning Dove
69
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Yellow-billed Cuckoo
2
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Great Horned Owl
1
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Ruby-throated Hummingbird
2
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Belted Kingfisher
8
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Red-headed Woodpecker
1
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Red-bellied Woodpecker
13
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Downy Woodpecker
12
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Hairy Woodpecker
6
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Northern Flicker
13
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Pileated Woodpecker
8
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Eastern Wood-Pewee
3
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Empidonax sp.
1
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Eastern Phoebe
3
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White-eyed Vireo
11
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Yellow-throated Vireo
3
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Philadelphia Vireo
1
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Red-eyed Vireo
4
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Blue Jay
5
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American Crow
37
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Tree Swallow
670
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Barn Swallow
85
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Carolina Chickadee
11
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Tufted Titmouse
23
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White-breasted Nuthatch
4
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Carolina Wren
44
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House Wren
1
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Eastern Bluebird
18
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American Robin
20
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Gray Catbird
16
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Northern Mockingbird
2
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Brown Thrasher
8
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European Starling
50
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Blue-winged Warbler
1
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Northern Parula
4
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Magnolia Warbler
4
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Yellow-throated Warbler
1
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Pine Warbler
8
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Palm Warbler
1
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Black-and-white Warbler
3
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American Redstart
10
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Ovenbird
1
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Northern Waterthrush
1
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Common Yellowthroat
8
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Hooded Warbler
1
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Summer Tanager
1
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Scarlet Tanager
6
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Eastern Towhee
3
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Chipping Sparrow
53
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Northern Cardinal
47
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Rose-breasted Grosbeak
3
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Blue Grosbeak
17
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Indigo Bunting
14
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Bobolink
5
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Red-winged Blackbird
12,150
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Brown-headed Cowbird
312
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House Finch
3
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American Goldfinch
8
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Frederick D. Atwood fredatwood@xxxxxxxxx
Flint Hill School, 10409 Academic Dr, Oakton, VA 22124
703-242-1675
http://www.agpix.com/fredatwood
http://www.flinthill.org
http://tea.armadaproject.org/tea_atwoodfrontpage.html
