[va-bird] Hog Island WMA: White pelican, lesser black-backed gull

Today's William & Mary ornithology class trip was to Hog Island WMA in the shadow of the Surry nuclear plant. This area is closed to the public at present, so we made special arrangements as an educational group and had an escort. There has been a white pelican there for more than a week. It was not the same individual that was being seen at Craney landfill, as we have photographs of that bird from an earlier trip. Waterfowl were not abundant, as elsewhere in the area (due to the warm weather?) with two red-breasted mergansers, one hooded merganser, 15 gadwall, 4 ring-necked ducks, 6 black ducks, 5 pintail and approximately 30 mallards, along with 300-500 canada geese. 15 great egrets and 35 great blue herons were seen, as well as several courting bald eagles, a red-shouldered, Coopers and sharp-shinned hawk, 2 kestrels and a harrier. A refuge biologist (and well-trained birder) reports that a white-fronted goose has been present recently, but we could not find it.
One lesser-black-backed gull was seen at the Scotland end of the ferry trip, and followed the boat from a distance, along with 20 laughing gulls, 15 great-backed backs, 40 herring gulls and several hundred ring-billeds.
One the trip home along Jamestown Road at least 15 hooded mergansers were seen on Lake Powell, which is still draining and concentrating fish and birds. There is no good way to bird this lake legally or safely from the road, which is where most of the herons, egrets, gulls, cormorants and kingfishers are congregating. 


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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