FreeLists / va-bird / [va-bird] NVBC Chincoteague Weekend & Snowy Owl at Craney Island

[VBKitchens@xxxxxxx]

Greetings to All,

    On Thursday, Jan. 31, my husband Allen, Mari Noster, and I stopped at 
Craney Island and saw the Snowy Owl at about 3:00 pm.  We found it thanks to 
Dave Worley and his fellow birder from Russell County in SW VA.  We met them 
while looking for the owl, and they not only told us they had just seen it, 
but offered to take us back to see it, which they did.  (The very nice woman 
in the office tried to show us where to look, but it's not as easy as it 
looked on the map.)  We had good scope views of the owl sitting on an 
embankment across the impoundment.  Thanks gentlemen!  Most birders really 
are great people.  Hope we can return the favor sometime.

    We crossed the CBBT late Thursday afternoon (not much there at that time) 
and  spent the night at a nearby motel, so we could bird our way up to 
Chincoteague on Friday, Feb. 1.  Our best birding was at Kiptopeke State Park 
that morning.  We saw both Red-throated & Common Loons, as well as our first 
Brown Pelicans of the year.  Several Great Cormorants were roosting on the 
old concrete ships which have been sunk and form a breakwater there.

    The 30 members of the Northern Virginia Bird Club who took part in our 
Winter Chincoteague Weekend, Feb. 1-3, found at least 93 species of birds. 
Highlights at Chincoteague included Red-throated & Common Loons, Horned 
Grebe, Northern Gannet, Brant, and all 3 scoters on Saturday, Feb. 2.  We 
also had a Peregrine Falcon (but no Short-eared Owl) on the Chincoteague 
Causeway late that afternoon.

    On Sunday, Feb. 3, we headed south to the CBBT.  We stopped along the way 
at Willis Wharf, where we were fortunate to find the tides just right 
(mudflats in the inlet exposed, but those farther out apparently covered) for 
shorebirds.  We saw an estimated 150 Marbled Godwits there, along with lots 
of Willets, Dunlin, and a nice flock of Ruddy Turnstones.  Most of the action 
at the CBBT was on Island #4, where we saw about 20 Great Cormorants, 1 
female Harlequin Duck, 1 Long-tailed Duck (formerly Oldsquaw), all 3 scoters, 
and perhaps a dozen Purple Sandpipers.  We also had good looks at some 
Northern Gannets flying between Islands #4 & 3.  On Island #3, we found a 
Harbor Seal off the point, but few birds.  On Island #2, we found 2 more 
Long-tailed Ducks, and a group of 10 Brant.   

Val Kitchens
Arlington, VA
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