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-----Original Message-----
From: Kurt Gaskill [mailto:KurtCapt87@xxxxxxxxxxx] ;
Sent: Wednesday, May 17, 2006 10:38 PM
To: (va-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx)
Subject: From Sea to Mountains: Spring in Virginia
VA BIRDers,
For some time I have been thinking of spring birding on the Eastern Shore
and the western mountains of Highland County Virginia. This is partly due
to comments Jesse Fultons once made to me about his approach to spring
migration. So this year, I decided to give it a try. I left
home-sweet-home Thursday PM (11 May) and arrived at Chincoteage NWR late PM.
Upon arrival, I birded the causeway and found a White-faced Ibis which
lifted up for several seconds. Oh, the wind was NW at ca. 30 knots! As you
can imagine, most birds were out of sight hunkered down in the grass,
etc. I passed a Brant near the road (the next day there were two in a gut
in the marsh) and Common Terns were near the oystercatcher bridge. I also
noted the Black-necked Stilt on the north side of the causeway on the bit of
marsh you pass just before crossing the bridge to Chincoteague town. Tough
weather (including fog) made birding difficult for the balance of the day.
Fortunately Saturday (and Sunday) was incredibly beautiful with clear, blue
skies, light wind and shirt-sleeve temperatures. Larry Meades recent VA
BIRDs summary of CNWR was good and the major additions that I can make are
Blue-winged Teal, female Hooded Merganser on the school house pond in
Chincoteague town, Glossy Ibis, White-rumped Sandpipers (on Saturday),
Red-headed WP on the Pony/Nature Trail, Blackburnian Warbler (on school
house pond road this road is between the High School and the Grade
School), and Seaside Sparrow on the causeway.
Saturday I traveled to Saxis and followed country roads south for a dozen
miles. In addition to many Virginia Rails, Marsh Wren and Seaside Sparrows,
I also encountered Bald Eagles on nest, Red-shouldered Hawk (Bullbegger
area), large congregations of Spotted Sandpipers, Yellow-throated Warblers,
4 dozen Pine Warblers, some Prairie and Blackpoll Warblers, a Prothonotary
Warbler (singing nr Bullbegger Creek), 2 widely separated Worm-eating
Warblers, large numbers of Ovenbirds and Common Yellowthroats (the warbler
tally was 13 species), several Grasshopper Sparrows and Eastern Meadowlarks,
and many Orchard Orioles. My stay in Accomac County netted ca. 125 species.
Sunday morning was the Cape Charles Count organized by Tom Saunders and
using the CBC circle boundaries of the same name. I linked up with Brian
Taber for our assigned areas of Eastern Shore of VA NWR and Kiptopeke SP
plus a few streets in between. It seemed like a tough day as there were no
flocks of migrants anywhere we hiked. Yet we tallied 136 species?! Brians
diligent searching produced the Mississippi Kite with Broad-winged Hawk as
he mentioned previously. Earlier, some crows chased a Barn Owl out of
ESVNWR woodland near the bunkers. The other birds were mostly common and
some of the minor highlights were Gadwall, Blue-winged Teal, Red-breasted
Merganser (bayside, near the Parsons tract), Wild Turkey, Common Loons,
Northern Gannet, Coopers Hawk, Virginia Rails, Gull-billed Terns, Common
Terns, Least Terns, Eurasian Collared-Doves, Common Nighthawk, 5 Red-headed
WP, Warbling Vireo (singing at the bunkers), Horned Lark, Bank Swallows,
Brown-headed Nuthatch, Veerys, Gray-cheeked Thrush, Swainsons Thrush, 15 of
the common warblers (tops was Pine, then Common Yellowthroat, YB Chat and
Black-throated Blue), Grasshopper Sparrows, many Orchard Orioles and a
Baltimore Oriole.
The next day I left for the mountains for the spring Highland County Count
with a short detour to the Great Dismal Swamp Jericho Ditch - and notables
were hearing many Prothonotary Warblers and single Swainsons Warbler and
spotting a Wild Turkey in the road. When I passed over the CBBT earlier, it
produced 57 Purple Sandpipers.
Highland County was interesting cold, a bit rainy Sunday eve, partly
cloudy Monday (May 15), and also cold and partly cloudy Tuesday. I linked
up with Bob Klarquist and later Patti Brody and then Sandy Bratton and Keith
Carson and we found a few interesting species. Highlights were Northern
Harrier flying west into West VA along balds at 4000 feet, Northern Goshawk
on Sapling Ridge, Broad-winged Hawk along Rt 642, Black-billed Cuckoo near
the WVA border of Rt 640, Long-eared Owl (by myself in early AM doing a owl
route for the VSO foray), many Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers (some near Back
Creek), many Least Flycatchers on the high mountain ridges, Horned Larks,
Cliff Swallows, Red-breasted Nuthatches, Brown Creepers, Golden-crowned
Kinglets, Gray-cheeked Thrush, a few Golden-winged Warblers, two Nashville
Warblers, many Magnolia and Black-throated Green Warblers, LA Waterthrush,
Kentucky Warbler (of the 20 species of warbler I encountered the most common
were Black-throated Green, Magnolia, Ovenbird, Chestnut-sided and
Blackburnian), a single YB Chat, Vesper Sparrows, Savannah Sparrows,
Grasshopper Sparrow, many Juncos, many Bobolinks, and Purple Finch in two
places (Bear Mtn Lodge and Locust Springs Parks, both singing, females in
the former). My tally in Highland was ca. 100 species.
I returned home Tuesday late PM, pretty much exhausted from a very birdy and
fun trip. I think I tallied about ca. 195 species all together. I missed
many like Ruffed Grouse! Yet, it was very interesting, especially the
differences between Highland Co. and the eastern shore.
Wishing you all good birds on great birding trips!
Kurt Gaskill
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