A small band of No. VA birders, Connie Campanella, David Buckley, Larry Meade
and myself journeyed forth to experience the winter birds of the CBBT and the
eastern shore...despite the early promises of sun and 40's for our weekend,
we were not disappointed as the northerly winds of 20-25mph and temps barely
over the 40 degree mark ( with snow! on Sunday) gave us a fine taste of the
coming week.
The CBBT on Sat. morning was well lit as we did have a sunny morning. Two
Purple Sandpipers were found on the rocks among the Turnstones and save for one
lone bird found on the return trip were about all we could find. A fine display
of Gannets was had on the bay side - 200 - 300 birds glowing white in the
sun...Small flocks of Surf Scoters and Long-tailed ducks were to be found near
every island. A few Black Scoters mixed were mixed in with the Surf.
Buffleheads and RB Mergs, Greater Scaup and a few Lesser rounded off the ducks.
We
picked up a M & F Harlequin on the bayside of Island 4 on the return trip. We
were
surprised by the total lack of Cormorants on the rocks - missing Great
Cormorant for the first time in all my trips to the CBBT.
On the eastern shore, we headed up to Cape Charles and picked up the RT
Hummer at Ned Brinkleys place, but missed the Cackling Goose, which was not
among
the 100 or so Geese at Crystal Lake. Two Redheads helped soften that miss. We
found a "rolling" flock of Blackbirds that easily contained 4000 - 5000
individuals along RT 600 just south of Cheriton, but we were not able to find a
yellow head among them.
Kiptopeke yielded up a Palm Warbler, one of the nicer passerines of the day,
along w. one Phoebe...the bay held 3 Horned Grebes, a few White - winged
scoters and 1 Common Goldeneye...another nice find.
On Sunday morning, we met up w. David Hughes for a spin around Craney
Island...wind seemed to be stronger than on Saturday and really limited our
ability
to scan the ponds. We did find a Male No. Harrier along the perimeter, along w.
a Kestrel. A 2nd Harrier (F) was seen working the edge of one of the
impoundments. No. Shovelers were present in Impoundment #2. In a small group of
sparrows, we picked out two White-crowned and a Swamp at the end of our loop.
Hoping for the Eurasian Wigeon, we headed up toward the Sunken Meadow Pond
near Surry, stopping at Hog Island WMA along the way. The guards at the power
plant stopped short of a cavity search and we were able to pass thru security
in
short order. We politely listened to one guard's tale of a "young bald eagle
w. a white head" that would perch near the gate, all silently deciding not to
try to correct the guy w. the gun. Two Egrets were present in the ponds, and
we picked up a Brown Thrasher as well. It started snowing...
The gazillion gadwalls and wigeons reported at Sunken Meadow were elsewhere,
taking the Eurasian Wigeon w. them. It was a nice stop...there were still some
gadwalls and one Am. Wigeon, and it was on our way home...our weekend list of
90 species follows...Rich Rieger
Common Loon
PB Grebe
Horned Grebe
N. Gannet
B. Pelican
DC Corm
GB Heron
G. Egret
B. Vulture
T Vulture
Snow Goose
C. Goose
Brant
Mute Swan
Tundra Swan
Gadwall
Am. Wigeon
Black Duck
Mallard
No. Shoveler
GW Teal
Redhead
G. Scaup
L. Scaup
Harlequin Duck
Surf Scoter
White winged Scoter
Black Scoter
Long-tailed Duck
Bufflehead
Common Goldeneye
Hooded Merg.
RB Merg
Ruddy Duck
BAld Eagle
No. Harrier
Sharpie
RT Hawk
Kestrel
Am. Coot
Killdeer
Oystercatcher
G. Yellowlegs
Ruddy Turnstone
Sanderling
Purple Sandpiper
Dunlin
Snipe
RB Gull
Herring Gull
GBB Gull
Pigeon
MO DO
RT Hummer
Kingfisher
RB woodpecker
YB Sapsucker
Downy WP
No. Flicker
Pileated WP
E. Phoebe
B. Jay
Am Crow
Fish Crow
Chickadee
Titmouse
RB Nuthatch
C. Wren
E. Bluebird
Robin
Mockingbird
B Thrasher
starling
Cedar Waxwing
YR Warbler
Palm Warbler
Chipping Sparrow
Field Sparroe
Song Sparrow
Swamp Sparrow
WT sparrow
WC Sparrow
Junco
Cardinal
RW Blackbird
E. Meadowlark
C. Grackle
Boat tailed Grackle
am Goldfinch
h. sparrow.
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