The William & Mary ornithology class spent the weekend traversing the
Eastern Shore and amassed a trip list of 101 species despite a late
start, a large group that made it impossible to approach songbirds, and
the participation of two young children. We started at Kiptopeke 10:30
Saturday morning and found that people literally outnumberd the birds
(despite hundreds of yellow-rumps!), so we left immediately and headed
for Ramp Road on the ESVNWR. Here we had a nice look at a merlin, as
well as 8 white ibis, a pied-billed grebe, one Cape May warbler in
reasonable plumage and 80 black vultures. Many clapper rails were
heard but none could be seen despite considerable effort to scare one
up for the class to observe. Next we went to Magotha Road and saw a
peregrine and again failed to get a good look at any of the 8 clapper
rails that were calling nearby, despite construction of a makeshift
bridge and a lot of work in hip waders. Oyster and Willis Wharf were
challenging because the tide was very low, so the willets (15) and
oystercatchers (20) were too far away for the class to appreciate
despite a wonderful 50x scope. No godwits were found. Dusk at
Wachapreague produced 8 more unseen clapper rails, approximately 100
migrating swans and some snow geese, numerous harriers and meadowlarks
settling into the saltmarsh, and a yellow-crowned nightheron.
Yellow-bellied sapsuckers could be heard near the VIMS lab. Owling
around Wachapreague was productive, with three screech-owls observed
closely on as many trys; 10-15 minutes each with a lot of good
photographs taken under million candlepower spotlight. Dawn at Saxis
produced the long awaited good looks at Clapper rails, which were
feeding in plain sight in the muddy low-tips ditches and allowed close
approach and plenty of photographs. A sedge wren was among numerous
marsh wrens. Several Wilson' snipe were seen, including one feeding so
close to the road that the freshly molted orange tail, almost the color
of an oriole's breast, was plain to see with the naked eye. An early
bufflehead and several common loons were seen (one red-throated
migrated overhead on Saturday). At Chincoteague we saw numerous
brown-headed nuthatches, despite the size of our group, as well as a
fine group of 9 marbled godwits, 2 redheads, 2 lesser scaup and a
lingering flock of black skimmers and one late caspian tern. Offshore
there were gannets and an unusual offshore migration of green-winged
teal, with a flock of 15-30 every 5 minutes, heading south about 200
meters out. One teal flock contained 2 male black scoters, a male
woodduck and 3 American Wigeon stragglers, a strange assemblage
anywhere, but especially over the ocean. On the way home in the rain a
merlin kept pace with us as we crossed the CBBT at almost 60 MPH,
closing out a very nice field trip with a lot of great views but no
rarities.
Daniel A. Cristol, Associate Professor
Department of Biology
College of William & Mary
PO Box 8795, Williamsburg, VA
(757) 221-2405/6483 (tel/fax)
dacris@xxxxxx
http://dacris.people.wm.edu/
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