FreeLists / va-bird / [va-bird] CBBT birds: Bulwer's Petrel and pelagics

[Phoebetria@xxxxxxx]

I underestimated the timing and track of Ernesto; it seems, for Virginia and 
North Carolina, that the storm had just the right combination to bring an 
unprecedented set of species into our area.   Unlike in many other storms, the 
birds I observed yesterday and today did not seem especially exhausted or worn. 
  
I birded the CBBT from 0100 until 1730 and saw the following, all remarkably 
well (except for the various unidentified birds):

Red-necked Phalarope - 3 (one ph.)
American Avocet - 1 (ph.)
Least Sandpiper - 2 
Red Knot - 1
Sanderling - 1
Short-billed Dowitcher - 18
Ruddy Turnstone - 12
Common Tern - 100+
Forster's Tern - 5
Sandwich Tern - 25
Caspian Tern - 3
Royal Tern - 20
Sooty Tern - 21 (all adults; several ph.)
Bridled Tern - 83 (minimally; all adults, several ph.)
Brown Noddy - 2 (not photographed, unfortunately, but seen well for 3-4 
minutes each)
unidentified noddy - 5 (more on these below)
Black Tern - 57 (minimally)
dark tern - 39 (most probably Black Terns)
Sabine's Gull - 1 juv. (ph.)
Ring-billed Gull - 2
Herring Gull - 30
Great Black-backed Gull - 25
Laughing Gull - 100+
Parasitic Jaeger - 2 (one light 2CY; one dark adult)
Pomarine Jaeger 1-2 (light nonadult, apparently 2CY; the second bird not 
aged)
Long-tailed Jaeger 1 (dark juv.; chasing Black Terns for 20+ minutes in the 
morning)
unidentified jaeger - 5
Leach's Storm-Petrel - 71 (this is probably 25% low; hard to count, as they 
did not all pass south; several photographed)
Wilson's Storm-Petrel - 50+ (milling around; hard to count)
Band-rumped Storm-Petrel - 3
unidentified Oceanodroma - 4
Black-capped Petrel - 1 (seen nicely; sat down, with Cape Charles water tower 
in background)
Bulwer's Petrel - 1 (seen nicely; in same field with 3 Leach's, several 
Bridled Terns, 2 Black Terns)

Normally I would post extensive details here, but I'm late for a birthday 
party as it stands.   I will post more material tomorrow or so; and I'll try to 
send photographs to a site where they can be easily seen.   Briefly, of the 
five noddies not identified to species, two (one in the morning, one in the 
late 
afternoon) appeared petite, slender, slim-winged, very blackish, and to have 
neat white forecrowns with distinct rear borders.   I don't have much 
familiarity with Black Noddy in the field and so do not feel comfortable 
identifying 
these birds as such.  But I strongly suspect that both were Black, not Brown, 
Noddies.   Needless to say, this was an overwhelming experience - no 'lifers,' 
but five species I had never seen on the CBBT in one day, and 2 were new in 
Virginia.   The other noddies I've heard about were at Town Point, Suffolk and 
Sunset Beach.   North Carolina had South Polar Skua, Cory's Shearwater, Leach's 
Storm-Petrel, and many terns and shorebirds inland, as well as many 
storm-petrels in the sounds.   I expect we'll hear more as people come in from 
the field 
today.   I heard from CBBT staff that Chincoteague was a disaster - "they 
closed the Causeway at 2:00 p.m., and it had Marsh Hens [Clapper Rails] all 
over 
it."

Ned Brinkley
Cape Charles, VA