Highlights:
Yesterday, May 5, I started at my property (Riverwood) along the upper
Mattaponi near Beulahville in upper King William Co. at about 8 AM. I enjoyed
the entire gorgeous, sunny, almost mosquito-free morning there, finding
remarkably few migrants but lots of summer residents including nest building
red-eyed and white-eyed vireos. I found a vulture on eggs on the ground in the
hollow base of a big old deciduous tree two weeks ago and she was still sitting
on the nest yesterday so I silently sneaked away without disturbing her.
Migrants passing through included a swainson's thrush, 2 northern waterthrush,
black-throated blue warbler, a few yellow-rumped warblers, and first-of-year
(FOY) Chestnut-sided Warbler. Other FOY birds for me were yellow-billed cuckoos
(2), hummingbirds (2), and single worm-eating and kentucky warblers (both of
which might be residents). Other warblers that were probably/definitely
residents were many prothonotary, hooded,
yellow-throated, pine, ovenbird, parula, yellowthroats, and black-and-white as
well as single prairie, louisiana waterthrush, and a chat. I also had both
scarlet and summer tanagers here. At one point I was scanning the oxbow pond
hoping (unsuccessfully) to see some wood ducklings when a young mink whom I had
been unknowingly standing right next to (3 feet away) for several minutes
suddenly ran away along the edge of the pond and disappeared into the
vegetation. I wish I had been aware of him earlier since I had my camera on my
shoulder. Oh well. (This was only my 5th sighting of a mink I think, my second
here.)
From there I went to route 638 across the river in upper King and Queen which
basically had the same birds plus a grasshopper sparrow and a bobwhite. A
female harrier was also a bit of a surprise this late in the season. There was
also a noisy chorus of carpenter frogs here mixing in with the abundant cricket
frogs and the scattered green and bull frogs.
Then to the Tappahannock route 360 bridge where i found a breeding plumage
forster's tern and 16 ospreys. Almost all of the cormorants and ring-billed
gulls were immatures, which makes sense.
Then I headed to a private reserve along the Rappahannock near Naylors in
Richmond Co (Mulberry Island) where I found (heard) 3 singing least bitterns,
14 singing marsh wrens, 4 yellow warblers, and over a dozen coastal plain swamp
sparrows. The alarm calls of the red-winged blackbirds made me scan for a
raptor, and sure enough, a merlin zipped through the area. This is kind of
late in the season and I am wondering if it is the same merlin I have seen here
off and on before.A coot and 6 American Pipits were also nice surprises. The
sweet tinkling songs of a horned lark, the rubber-ducky calls of a
brown-headed nuthatch, and two whistling bobwhites cheered up the gray overcast
afternoon before the rains came.
I ended up the day in Leedstown in Westmoreland County. A friend who manages
his farm for wildlife, drained much of a shallow pond to kill back some of the
invasive vegetation in it. The exposed mud drew in lots of shorebirds including
1 white-rumped sandpiper, 1 dunlin, 6 semipalmated plovers, 4 semipalmated
sandpipers, 52 least sandpipers, 25 solitary sandpipers, 6 spotted sandpipers,
45 lesser yellowlegs, 6 greater yellowlegs, 3 killdeer, and 4 snipe. There were
also 6 glossy ibis and two pairs of blue-winged teals (and 1 female) here. My
200th bird species of the year for Virginia, was one my favorites, a flock of
35 bobolinks singing away as they foraged in the hay field.
After dark, even though the full moon was hidden behind overcast skies I
decided to try for nightjars along Winter Harbor Rd. The previous Saturday I
heard nothing here. But last night I heard 10 chuck-will's-widows at 6 stops
between Twiford Rd and route 3. Sometimes I have heard whip-poor-wills here
too, but they were not singing last night. Maybe they aren't back yet.
Total for the day was 114 species. No robins (really?), and only 1
white-breasted nuthatch all day.
Next weekend, to WV! (if all goes as planned.)
All the best
Fred
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
