FreeLists / va-bird / [va-bird] Birding Festival Notes, and CBBT Monday, Oct. 7

[VBKitchens@xxxxxxx]

VA Birders,

    On Saturday afternoon, Oct. 5, while attending the VA Eastern Shore 
Birding Festival, I saw 2 or 3 Eurasian Collared-Doves at the intersection of 
Rts. 600 & 645.  I went to the site from the Kiptopeke Hawkwatch, after 
getting directions from Fenton Day there.  As you leave Kiptopeke State Park, 
Rt. 645 is the road that goes off slightly to the right to Rt. 13.  After you 
cross Rt. 13, it is just a block or two to the intersection with Rt. 600.  
The last house on the right on Rt. 645 has a dense clump of trees, and as I 
approached, a Collared-Dove on the wires across the street flew into this 
clump.  I then turned right onto Rt. 600, as Fenton had suggested, but I 
didn't see any doves there, so I turned around and went back.  Then I saw 2 
of the Collared-Doves on wires at the intersection, so I had at least 2 and 
possibly 3 birds at this spot.  It was about 6:30 pm when I saw the 
birds--just approaching dusk.  Last year, I saw only one bird at another 
location nearby, but I also saw it at dusk.  I went by the Rt. 600/645 
intersection an hour earlier (about 5:30 pm) the next day (Sunday), but I did 
not find any Eurasian Collared-Doves in the area on that visit.  I am 
beginning to think that perhaps the best time of day to look for these birds 
might be around dusk.

    I stayed over at the Sunset Beach on Sunday night, and after checking out 
Monday morning, I headed back down to the CBBT, hoping to find the 
Sharp-tailed Sparrows (both species) which had been found there on Sunday 
morning.  (We found a Sedge Wren, but no sparrows, on Saturday morning.)  
Alas, it was not to be.  As I drove onto Island #4, a Peregrine was cruising 
the island, no doubt looking for a songbird snack.  Then I drove around to 
the ocean side, and there, sitting on the tarmac, was an adult male Merlin.  
On island #3, just after I got out of the car, another Merlin cruised by me 
and all along the grassy strip; it was hardly a foot off the ground!  
Meanwhile, Sharp-shinned and Cooper's Hawks were flying around above me over 
the islands, and they also appeared to be looking for a meal.  The result was 
that I didn't see one passerine on any of the islands on Monday morning.  I 
hope that they all left on Sunday evening.  Otherwise, I'm afraid they all 
became food for hungry hawks earlier that morning before I arrived on the 
islands.  For the record, I did check the vegetation carefully when the hawks 
flew off, but I did not find any songbirds on Islands #4, 3, or 2 (I skipped 
#1).

    Other than hawks and gulls, and one Ruddy Turnstone on #2, the only birds 
I saw on the islands were 3 Great Cormorants--2 which looked like they were 
molting into adult plumage and 1 immature--on the slab on the bay side of 
Island #4 (not on #3, where we had 2 Great Cormorants on Saturday morning).   
  

Val Kitchens
Arlington, VA
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