[va-bird] Cape Charles birds



Cape Charles had a slight dusting of snow, a brief volley of sleet, and a 
little rain over the weekend, but wind was the most memorable part of the 
storm here, with gusts easily in excess of 50 kts overnight Sunday night.  
Remarkably, the female Rufous Hummingbird persists here at the house, 
attending feeders regularly all day long through today.  Also in the yard are 
2 Brown Creepers, 3 Carolina Wrens, a Rusty Blackbird (creaking as I type 
this), 140 Cedar Waxwings,19 Northern Cardinals, about 40 White-throated and 
2 Song Sparrows, a male Pine Warbler, and 15 Red Fox Sparrows, one of which 
is very gray through the face, head, and back and could be a western 
_zaboria_ race, but I don't know much about identification of that form.  All 
this activity must be connected to the storm to the north; we usually just 
have House Finches and House Sparrows at this time of year.  

The wet fields along the Stone Road (Rte 184) today have ~1200 shorebirds in 
them, chiefly Dunlin (750) and Black-bellied Plover (450), with one Killdeer 
(!), 3 Short-billed Dowitchers, 2 Long-billed Dowitchers (not regular here at 
all), 20 Ruddy Turnstones, and one Red Knot.  Assemblages such as this are 
not all that unusual here and around Arlington (west of Sting-Ray's) at this 
time of year but are always fun to pick through, hoping for a lapwing!  

Over the weekend, Bob Ake and Bob Anderson counted almost 2800 scaup, almost 
all Lessers but with some Greaters and 2 Redhead and 3 Harlequin Ducks mixed 
in, along the CBBT, as well as one Red-necked Grebe.  Anderson also found a 
Red-necked Grebe on the Outer Banks over the weekend, along with a Red 
Phalarope on the beach.  

Ned Brinkley
Cape Charles, VA 
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