VA BIRDers,
The regular Sunday morning field trip at Dyke Marsh, sponsored by the Friends
of Dyke Marsh and free to all, met in the picnic area at 8 o'clock this past
Sunday and were quickly assualted by the heat and humidity. We did our best
to hide under tree shade as much as possible and I think the birds did too as
our day of discovery did not encounter many birds (and what's with all this
cicada noise? :).
Highlights along the trail were an overflying Turkey Vulture (migration is in
the air!), several Ruby-throated Hummingbirds scattered along our path, two
Warbling Vireos in the picnic area - one appeared to by HY as the other sang,
a few Blue-gray Gnatcatchers, ten Gray Catbirds, a couple of Cedar Waxwings,
a single Prothonotary Warbler making a picnic area excursion, and a good show
by half a dozen Orchard Orioles and a couple of Baltimore Orioles about half
way down Haul Road.
Fortunately we found that the shorebirds were undetterred by the oppressive
heat, as nearly all of our participants met the thermal challenge and treked
to the Hunting Creek mudflats, about 1/3 mile north of the picnic area.
There we encountered all the goodies reported previously and had a fine time
scoping them and comparing plumage, shapes, etc. I made the following notes
on numbers of the 15 species present:
Semipalmated Plover 8
Killdeer 40
Greater Yellowlegs 25
Lesser Yellowlegs 178 (an astounding season for this species!)
Willet 1
Spotted Sandpiper 3
Red Knot 1 (faded adult)
Sanderling 1, HY
Semipalmated Sandpiper 30
Least Sandpiper 10
White-rumped Sandpiper 2
Pectoral Sandpiper 26
Stilt Sandpiper 10
Short-billed Dowitcher 8, 5 HY noted
Wilson's Phalarope 2
Afterwards, the sunlight was somewhat favorable to scan the SAV mats that are
east of the Belle Haven picnic area of Dyke Marsh and I noted a few
interesting birds:
Pied-billed Grebe 12, numbers have more than doubled in the past week
DC Cormorant 196
Canada Goose ca. 145
Wood Duck 3
Mallard ca. 100
Blue-winged Teal 10
Ring-necked Duck 1 "Firestone"
Am. Coot 2
Caspian Tern 39
Forster's Tern ca. 100
Black Tern 3
Kurt Gaskill
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