FreeLists / va-bird / [va-bird] Re: Chincoteague

["WILLIAM and THERESE Leigh" <leightern@xxxxxxx>]

All,

Spent a week at Chincoteague and did a couple of hours of birding each day. 
Tons of birds! Lots of Peeps and Pectorals Sandpipers, lots of Clapper Rails 
heard only 2 seen (4 if you count two road kill)  A single Brant was hanging 
out across from the Tom's Cove visitor center. Not sure what he was doing 
there this time of year. I briefly spotted a loon also at Tom's Cove nature 
center but did not get a positive ID. I was stuck in a weekend traffic jam 
and though it was stop and go traffic the Loon and the traffic were not in 
synch. Most intriguing bird of the week was a briefly glimpsed bird that was 
either a Long Billed Curlew or a Whimbrel seen on route 175 in marshes 
between Wallops Island and the town of Chincoteague at a pull over on the 
right with a billboard adverstising Waterfront Hotel. Bird was seen briefly 
as it landed in tall grass. Long bill was very noticeable and appeared dark. 
Face appeared plain and there was a whitish area around the eye sugestive of 
an eye ring. I did not note any stripes or eyeline. This took place in 
seconds. Bird disappears in grass. I wait 20 -30 minutes thinking that such 
a good sized  bird most certainly show itself, but it never did. Finally my 
patience gave way to eagerness and picked up scope and headed closer to area 
where the bird was last seen. From the same general area but not the same 
spot as where bird landed, a large bird took off, in the scope I noted 
cinnamon colored underwings in flight with noticeable dark patch near the 
bend in the upperwing. With this second sighting I did not note the bill 
shape and can not state that this was the same bird seen earlier, it could 
have been another bird entirely. I watched the bird as flew towards the town 
of Chincoteague hoping it would land and I could chase after it. It didn't 
land but just kept going until almost out of sight and then seemed to land 
but I wasn't sure because of traffic and haze and such. I drove to area and 
looked for at least another 30 minutes or more and then headed back to 
cottage. Several return trips to same areas throughout the week did not find 
anything, nor did I see any Whimbrels throughout the week to compare against 
this sighting. This was a very brief look and I consider this an interesting 
sighting but not a positive id. Hope it is okay to report it as such.....



William Leigh
Bridgewater VA
leightern@xxxxxxx


> From: do-not-reply@xxxxxxxxx
> To: leightern@xxxxxxx
> Subject: eBird Report - Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge - Assateague 
> National Seashore , 8/11/06
> Date: Sun, 13 Aug 2006 22:46:27 -0400 (EDT)
>
>
>
> Location:     Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge - Assateague National 
> Seashore
> Observation date:     8/11/06
> Notes:      The birds listed above were seen during the week of August 7 
> through 13th. Numbers are estimates only except for the rarer birds where 
> numbers were low such as Brant, Stilt Sandpiper. I managed to bird about 
> 2hours a day mainly during the late afternoon 3 pm to 5 pm.
> Number of species:     77
>
> Brant     1
> Canada Goose     100
> Mallard     25
> Northern Bobwhite     5
> Brown Pelican     50
> Double-crested Cormorant     50
> Great Blue Heron     10
> Great Egret     100
> Snowy Egret     50
> Little Blue Heron     50
> Tricolored Heron     25
> Cattle Egret     20
> Green Heron     3
> Black-crowned Night-Heron     3
> Yellow-crowned Night-Heron     2
> Glossy Ibis     25
> Black Vulture     15
> Turkey Vulture     20
> Osprey     20
> Bald Eagle     3
> Clapper Rail     2
> Black-bellied Plover     8
> Semipalmated Plover     35
> Killdeer     2
> American Oystercatcher     5
> Black-necked Stilt     10
> Greater Yellowlegs     25
> Lesser Yellowlegs     25
> Willet     15
> Spotted Sandpiper     2
> Marbled Godwit     2
> Ruddy Turnstone     2
> Sanderling     25
> Semipalmated Sandpiper     20
> Western Sandpiper     20
> Least Sandpiper     1
> Pectoral Sandpiper     15
> Stilt Sandpiper     1
> Short-billed Dowitcher     15
> Laughing Gull     200
> Ring-billed Gull     4
> Herring Gull     15
> Great Black-backed Gull     20
> Gull-billed Tern     1
> Caspian Tern     2
> Royal Tern     25
> Common Tern     5
> Forster's Tern     25
> Least Tern     5
> Black Tern     1
> Black Skimmer     50
> Rock Pigeon     5
> Mourning Dove     5
> Chimney Swift     10
> Ruby-throated Hummingbird     2
> Belted Kingfisher     2
> Northern Flicker     2
> Eastern Wood-Pewee     1
> Eastern Kingbird     3
> Blue Jay     1
> Fish Crow     25
> Purple Martin     50
> Barn Swallow     2
> Carolina Wren     1
> Eastern Bluebird     1
> American Robin     1
> Gray Catbird     2
> Northern Mockingbird     1
> European Starling     35
> Yellow Warbler     1
> Common Yellowthroat     1
> Northern Cardinal     2
> Indigo Bunting     2
> Red-winged Blackbird     10
> Common Grackle     10
> Boat-tailed Grackle     5
> House Sparrow     50
>
> This report was generated automatically by eBird v2 (http://www.ebird.org)


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