I visited a number of sites along the Tidewater section of the Virginia
Birding Trail yesterday (Sunday October 29). It was very windy and this
seemed
to drastically limit the number of species seen. Sites visited were
Carrollton Nike Park, Hog Island WMA, Chippokes SP, Sunken Meadow (southern
section)
and Henricus (just the swamp area along the road). Very striking was the
total lack of ducks at any of these sites - in fact there were no birds at all
at
Sunken Meadow or Henricus. The most interesting sighting was 7 AMERICAN
COOTS sheltering from the wind along the river at Hog Island.
Species lists:
Location: Carrollton Nike Park
Double-crested Cormorant 2
Great Blue Heron 3
Black Vulture 1
Killdeer 2
Laughing Gull 3
Location: Hog Island Waterfowl Management Area
Canada Goose 500
Double-crested Cormorant 500
Great Blue Heron 3
Great Egret 8
Turkey Vulture 1
Bald Eagle 3
American Coot 7
Herring Gull 1
Great Black-backed Gull 1
Belted Kingfisher 1
Eastern Phoebe 1
European Starling 50
Song Sparrow 2
American Goldfinch X
There were also about 500 gull sp. that were too far away to ID
Chippokes SP:
A large raft of gulls on the river, too far away to ID
Sunken Meadow:
Nothing!
Henricus
Nothing!
Wendy Ealding
