Fred Blystone and I birded two locations on the VA Birding and Wildlife
Trail - Plantation Loop (Coastal Area) today.
The best "birdy" place was near Malvern Hill - Richmond National =
Battlefield
Park (CPL03) where, at 3:30 pm, we saw one Glossy Ibis and about 60
Short-billed Dowitchers just off State Route 156 (Willis Church Road). =
It
was a "stomp on the brakes" type of sighting. Luckily no one was behind =
us.
Fred did a great job pulling off the road and finding a wide spot on the
shoulder. We also saw two Lesser Yellowlegs and heard Killdeer. All were =
in
a swampy low area on the left about 1.5 miles after we turned from Route =
5
onto Willis Church Road, following the signs for Malvern Hill. The link =
to
the VDGIF web site with the map and location is below:
http://www.dgif.state.va.us/vbwt/site.asp?trail=3D1&loop=3DCPL&site=3DCPL=
03
Has anyone else seen Glossy Ibis in the area? It was a year bird for =
both
Fred and me.
We visited Lawrence Lewis Jr. Park/Wilcox Wharf in the morning. The Bald
Eagle's nest is still occupied by the female. She looked like she was
seriously incubating (or keeping the nestlings warm in the windy
conditions). She was not moving around on the nest or showing behavior =
like
she was feeding them. We did not see her mate bring any food to the =
nest.
Best bird otherwise was Blue-gray Gnatcatcher.
Non-birding event: When we arrived at Wilcox Wharf, a fisherman =
approached
us to see if we wanted to take home a sick, emaciated dog!! We said "no
thanks" but I checked out the dog's collar. She looked like a hunting =
dog,
had had puppies recently, and was very friendly and HUNGRY. Her collar =
had a
phone # which I called and miraculously reached a real person. I =
described
the dog and the collar, and the man said it was his dog and he would =
come
and pick her up. Sure enough, about 15 minutes later he pulled up and =
the
dog happily greeted him. He said the dog had been missing since hunting
season - January. While we waited the fisherman gave her some pieces of
perch to eat and Fred gave her some dog snacks he had in the back of his
car. I found an empty bait container, washed it out, and filled it with
water. She ate everything! The hunter said she was a valuable "hound dog
even though she didn't look like it." She has a long recovery ahead of =
her
if she's going to hunt next season. I hope the story has a happy ending =
for
the dog.
Shirley Devan
cell: 757-813-1322
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