What a great weekend of birding, despite the fact I wrecked my knee
temporarily, I hope. First of all, I had the chance to see the Painted
Bunting
on Friday afternoon. SEcond try. Then there was the great pelagic with lots
of fulmars and dovekies, a few
puffins and 2 or 4 kittiwakes, plus 3 species of pinnepeds: Sperm & Fin
Whales and lots of Common Dolphins.
The CBBT ;had a Red-necked Grebe on #1, a Horned on #3 and 5 Harlequins
on #4. We had reports of eiders on #4 but they were nowhere to be found.
also no Razorbills.
AT the ESNWR the Eurasian Wigeon and Blue-winged Teal were away from
their post (at the Ramp Rd pond); Oyster was disappointing as was the lake
in Cape Charles. However, when I proceeded north, Willis Wharf was LOADEDa
with Marbled Godwits. I was using ;bins only and managed to count 187! Plus
a few Willets (that was just about it except for a few stray gulls).
Chincoteague had lotsa ducks and some shorebirds. When I arrived (latish
afternoon) the tides were in like crazy and not much was visible from the
causeway. Snow Goose Pond had ~250 Tundra Swans and assorted
puddle ducks; the beach road ponds and small bodies of water had multi-
tudes of puddle ducks. AND down where Tom's Cove comes right up to the
road there were hundreds (700 or so) Snow Geese, including one ROSS's
Goose, fairly close to the road (again, bins only) with a dirty face and feet
and cute as a button.
On my way out of Chincoteague the causeway was much more productive -
many Dunlin, 12-15 Black-bellied Plovers and a couple of thousand Brant,
which I'd given up on seeing until fall!
Continuing on my way I had a Great Horned Owl on the side of the road,
calling and having a great time. Me, too!
Bev Leeuwenburg
703-425-890
Mike Iwanik told me he and Vicky ran into Brian Patteson and Butch Pearceand
they had an immature KING EIDER at the ferry slip at Kiptopeke; also had a
BLACK-HEADED GULL at Lynnhaven Inlet (west side in the sand dunes).
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