FreeLists / va-bird / [va-bird] Re: James River, Mulberry Isl Birds & Craney Isl Issue, Nov 7

[Jay Keller <azure.jay2006@xxxxxxxxx>]

Dave,
   
  Where it is most likely a Boat-tailed Grackle, any out-of-range BT this time 
of year should be scrutinized as to whether it might be a Great-tailed.  They 
are usually purplish in good light and have very different voices.  There has 
been a noticeable influx of western vargants the past couple of weeks in the 
area, including Western Grebe, Black-chinned Hummer (WV), Inca Dove (MD), 
Yellow-headed Blackbird, Western Kingbirds, Harris's Sparrow, and more.
   
  Jay Keller
   
   
  ----- Original Message -----   From: "Dave Hewitt" <dhewitt@xxxxxxxx>
  To: <va-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  Sent: Tuesday, November 07, 2006 4:59 PM
  Subject: [va-bird] James River, Mulberry Isl Birds & Craney Isl Issue, Nov 7

  

> VA-Birders:
> 
> First, a couple neat sightings on the James River near Mulberry Island today:
> 
> Boat-tailed Grackle (1) - didn't realize they were up here
> Ruddy Ducks (~25)
> Buffleheads (7)
> DC Cormorants (100s on the Warwick River)
> Common Loons (2)
> 
> There were other ducks, terns, and gulls around as well, but I was too busy 
> measuring oysters to get a good look at them.
> 
> 
> Second, I just wanted to share a bit of information regarding Craney Island 
> that may or may not be news for list subscribers. This is not intended to 
> be an alarm, just an FYI. I don't know what it means for birding this 
> location, but would be very interested if others have more information. 
> This comes from a reliable source, so I did not check up on it. At the 
> least, I would suspect that such an increase in activity around the island 
> would reduce the bird numbers, but hopefully not.
> 
> Maersk Lines (http://www.maerskline.com/) is developing a very large 
> container facility on Craney Island to serve their newest, massive 
> container vessels on the US east coast. Servicing of these vessels will 
> eventually lead to dredging of the shipping channels to 55' depth and, for 
> safety reasons, widening of the channels. The Virginia Port Authority is 
> poised to build a similar size terminal, also on Craney Island. More very 
> large ships will come. The Panama Canal is to be widened to accommodate 
> these super size container vessels, even perhaps the new China Lines 
> vessels at 23 containers wide. The prospect of Hampton Roads becoming one 
> of the top three container terminals in the US (incl Long Beach and 
> Seattle-Tacoma) is very real, with at least a 4x increase in traffic by 2025.
> 
> Dave Hewitt
> Gloucester, VA
> 
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