BACK BAY
Part 4. The Redeye Circuit. Five Christmas Bird Counts in Virginia and
North Carolina, December 26-31, 2003. Harry Armistead and Jared Sparks.
Mon., Dec. 29. It's up at 3:45 A.M. for the long (endless) drive in the
dark through great flatlands and bottomland swamps full of canebrakes from
Manteo on Roanoke Island to Virginia Beach and the Back Bay N.W.R.
"My annual cycle of peregrinations takes me regularly to small towns during
the Christmas holidays. Here holiday street decorations, it seems to me,
are at their loveliest. Sparsely deployed, with understated beauty and
simplicity, are the wreaths, candy canes, and shepherds' crooks atop lamp
posts in hamlets that are tranquil and nearly deserted as I roll through
the main street on peaceful December nights on my way to the next Christmas
Bird Count or on my way home. As with the Fourth of July I think Christmas
is at its best in a small town or village environment. The electric
candles and stars of Manteo in North Carolina, Accomac in Virginia, St.
Michaels in Maryland, and Middletown in Delaware are subtle light displays
I look forward to seeing each year, as spiritual and inspiring in their own
way as the stained glass of Chartres and Rheims."-H.T.A. from 'The song of
the not-so-open road.'
Jared, who excels at navigation, botanical commentary, and determining
tides, weather, and hurricane news from the Internet, steers me along the
small, winding, dark roads without mishap in the fastnesses of the wilder
parts of Chesapeake and Virginia Beach. If you think I am kidding try to
get from Route 168 to Sandbridge some time when you are alone under the
cover of darkness.
A beautiful clear day transpires with light winds and sun. Ned Brinkley,
John Brollini, Brian Sullivan, Marshall Iliff, George, Jared and I are
transported over 5 miles south in a refuge vehicle to begin our walk back
up the refuge dike system passing through False Cape State Park. We are
left off at Barbours Hill on Back Bay, where we run into Cameron Barnas,
who lives here. Cameron formerly worked at Kiptopeke State Park.
Formerly a paradise thronged with countless thousands of waterfowl, the Bay
lost most of its submerged aquatic vegetation years ago. It is now bereft
of waterfowl. The monstrous flocks of wigeon, Gadwall, coots, and other
fowl are a memory. Even the diked impoundments have little in them. The
water is too high and for the first time in over 10 years the boys are
unable to flush Le Conte's Sparrows from the wet fields full of broom
sedge. Ned takes to the beach where he finds a Western Grebe. But first
he comes upon a flock of 50 some redpolls.
A lovely Blue-headed Vireo gives us good views with other birds in a mixed
species foraging guild before we split up. Jared and I take the western
bayside dikes, the others fan out on the eastern ones. Jared and I hear
several King Rails in the dense Juncus grass lining Back Bay. The boys
find a couple of Orange-crowned Warblers. Waterfowl include 2100 Snow and
Blue geese, but 1 Pied-billed Grebe, 570 Tundra Swans, and 20 Hooded
Mergansers. A flock of 32 Wilson's Snipe is one of the largest I have seen
this close to the coast. They stay together in wild flight, zig-zagging
all over the place. A Common Loon is an unusual sight within the big
impoundment. See a sulphur and an unidentified anglewing but no snakes or
interesting mammals. This is a good place to find Cottonmouths, otters,
and Mink, feral pigs and horses, but not today. Neither George nor I can
recall Back Bay being this barren.
Paul Sykes later tells me the count total is 130 species. In addition to
their being fewer birds than in previous years, Back Bay has always been
limited by not having an inlet. This makes many of the diving ducks,
shorebirds incl. Purple Sandpipers, marsh sparrows, herons, et al. harder
to come by than on other nearby coastal counts.
There is a good article about Back Bay N.W.R. in "the Virginian-Pilot",
Dec. 30, 2003, Tue., with a lovely color mood photograph of the setting sun
over some marshes and the bay. The article is entitled "Steady stream of
cash helps Back Bay grow." It concerns the success of the refuge in
gaining funds for expansion, one of the few refuges in the country so
blessed. It has gone from 3,400 acres in 1938 to some 12.5 square miles,
more than doubling its size, and the enlargement process continues. Pages
A1 & A13, plus 4 other color shots and a good map.
I choose as usual to leave in mid-afternoon to go get ready for the Cape
Charles count and much regret missing the compilation. We make brief stops
on the C.B.B.T. The hundreds of Surf Scoters are still there.
Apparently not much is known about scoters' food habits in the face of
great changes in the Chesapeake Bay area. Their nests in the Canadian
sub-Arctic, located in dense vegetation, are extremely hard to find. As
dark birds they are difficult to see and census from aircraft. A good
article on them is in the Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay's "Bay journal",
Jan.-Feb. 2004, pp. 1, 12-13, vol. 13, no. 10, and highlights efforts at
current research.
Best to all - Harry Armistead, 523 E. Durham St., Philadelphia, PA
1919-1225. 215-248-4120. harryarmistead at hotmail dot com.
You are subscribed to VA-BIRD. To post to this mailing list, simply send email
to va-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx. To unsubscribe, send email to
va-bird-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with 'unsubscribe' in the Subject field.
