FreeLists / va-bird / [va-bird] Harlequin Duck, Mississippi Kite, Blue-winged and Cape May Warblers - 4 May

[Phoebetria@xxxxxxx]

An early morning trip to Norfolk across the CBBT produced 15 Purple 
Sandpipers and a Harlequin Duck (molting male) on the west side of the first 
(public) 
island of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel.   May 4 is getting late for a 
Harlequin but not unprecedented.   A quick check of a few spots in Norfolk 
produced 
1 Veery (with fresh adult greater coverts on the right wing but retained 
first-year coverts on the left), 1 Wood Thrush, 4 Scarlet Tanagers, 1 
Rose-breasted Grosbeak, 4 Orchard Orioles, 3 Baltimore Orioles, 1 aberrant 
Blue-winged 
Warbler, 3 Yellow Warblers, 7 Blackpoll Warblers, 4 American Redstarts, 1 Cape 
May Warbler, 5 Black-and-white Warblers, 8 Northern Parulas, 9 Black-throated 
Blue Warblers, 2 Northern Waterthrushes, 6 Ovenbirds, 10 Common Yellowthroats, 
1 
Myrtle Warbler, 40 Gray Catbirds, and 2 House Wrens.   

Returning to Cape Charles an hour ago, I noticed an adult (female?) 
Mississippi Kite circling high over the "hump" in Cape Charles.   I called Tom 
Saunders 
immediately, who stepped outside his office and saw the bird.   I was able to 
see it, just barely, from the front yard of 9 Randolph Avenue (a new one for 
the yard list!) before it passed south.   I don't know of any other record of 
the species in town, and this is the earliest Eastern Shore record I know of.  
 Indeed, before 2007, the 9th of May was the earliest date known for the 
species in the Virginia Coastal Plain (now beat by a week at the College Creek 
hawkwatch!), and 2 May was the earliest date for the state, which the College 
Creek watch tied.   

Ned Brinkley
Cape Charles, VA 




**************************************
 See what's free at http://www.aol.com.


You are subscribed to VA-BIRD. To post to this mailing list, simply send email 
to va-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx To unsubscribe, send email to
va-bird-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with 'unsubscribe' in the Subject field.