Rexanne Bruno and I teamed up to find the Northern Shrike today, but were
unsuccessful. From 9:30-11 the dominant species in the area was CBBT
Police. I think we counted nine on the trip across, including two active
indivuals releasing a prey at the Fishermans Island gates. Cynics that we
are we noted that it's the end of the month and there are quotas to be met.
The water at Ramp Lane pond was high and we found nary a duck. I want to
report that two weeks ago I saw a Harbor Seal in the pond, it's grey
whiskered face poking up and watching me as I watched it for about 5
seconds. What it was doing there or how it got there I have no idea.
At Kitopeke we got nice looks at COMMON LOONS in breeding plumage and
several HORNED GREBES in various stages of transitional plumage. We also
met Josh Nemath, a nice young guy working on a William and Mary study of
Oystercatchers on Fishermans Island. Apparently only five birds fledged
last year out of fifty plus nests, and they're trying to figure out why.
Best wishes to them.
Rexanne and I decided to run up to Chincoteague and look around. About
midway on Rt. 175 we had a flock of 100+ GLOSSY IBIS flying, landing in a
farm field and then flying off. There was too much heat shimmer in the
field to find a White-faced. Along the causeway were lots of Egrets. We
stopped at the second bridge and scoped an adult LITTLE BLUE HERON and a
SNOWY EGRET. Many more Snowy Egrets were likely present. Breeding plumage
LAUGHING GULLS were plentiful. Across from the Tom's Cove visitor center a
lovely BLACK-CROWNED NIGHT HERON was perched 10 feet from the road, with
beautiful yellow coloring on its breast and a vivid dusky black crown. As
we watched it the bird tucked its bill into its breast and took a nap!
Back to the CBBT by 4:15 and many passes across the island, but the Shrike
just wasn't there. We speculated that it has moved on. At the end we
decided that the sign on the gate said "No public access" which isn't the
same as "No parking", so we pulled in and sat on a patch of trees. The cop
that showed up turned out to be a decent guy. He asked what a Shrike
looked like and told us about a flock of 100 Black Ducks he had seen, and
let us stay there. You never know when you're going to get lucky.
Then on to home, to bird another day.
John Fox
Arlington
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