Greetings...
On Memorial Day, Marshall Iliff, Mike Stinson, and I spent most of the day
birding six counties in the southern part of Virginia. Starting in
Mecklenburg, we worked our way east, making several stops in Brunswick,
Greensville, Southampton, and Isle of Wight. Our goals were many of the
southern Virginia specialties, but hoping for Bachman's Sparrow, Kites,
Anhinga, and Swainson's Warbler.
The bird of the day was obviously the Pomarine Jaeger, found at Kerr
Reservoir about six-forty-five AM. Marshall and I birded the reservoir
briefly prior to meeting up with Mike. Marshall picked the bird up a few
hundred yards out flying toward our position atop the small knoll on the east
end of the damn. The Jaeger flew in fairly high almost to the damn, banking
just overhead, offering great views. If flew south for a few seconds before
it finally headed southeast and then east, over land and out of sight. While
still stunned by the presence of the jaeger, we picked up a group of eleven
Sanderlings flying closer to the water, but virtually in the same line as the
jaeger, reaching the damn and then banking back over the reservoir. The
Sanderlings didn't follow the route of the jaeger over land. Also on the
lake were a pair of Common Loons. Downstream on the other side of the damn
at the park we had many Cliff Swallows, Fish Crows, Scarlet and Summer
Tanager, and lots of cormorants and Black Vultures perched on the rocks in
the river.
Once we met up with Mike, we headed off to some of his traditionally reliable
areas for Bachman's Sparrow in Brunswick County. One of the best sightings
came in Mecklenburg County near the Regional Airport when we came across a
Corn Snake sunning in the middle of the road. An absolutely beautiful beast.
Many of the Bachman's stops produced a pile of birds, but no Bachman's.
There is plenty of habitat to search for them down there, and our missing
them might only be indicative of not checking enough spots. Heard and/or
seen at probably every stop were White-eyed Vireos, Red-eyed Vireos, Pine
Warblers, Prairie Warblers, Common Yellowthroats, Hooded Warblers, Chats,
Summer Tanagers, Towhees, Chipping Sparrows, Field Sparrows, and Indigo
Buntings. The numbers of Prairies, Hoodeds, and Field Sparrows were
staggering, well over a hundred of each, especially the Prairies and Fields
Sparrows. Heard at many of our stops were Black-and-white Warblers, Orchard
Orioles, Eastern Kingbirds and Yellow-throated Vireos. We picked up our
first Mississippi Kite at one decent looking Henslow's spot. Other raptors
in Brunswick were an Osprey, Red-tailed, Red-shouldered, and a Bald Eagle.
Earlier we had a single Kestrel in Mecklenburg. Good birds for the County
lists.
Once we finished the Bachman's search, we slipped off the piedmont to the
Meherrin River area and the swampy areas of southern Greensville and
Southampton Counties. We made many stops at just about any water access we
had. The default warbler here became Prothonotary. Other birds at just
about each stop were Summer Tanagers, Yellow-throated Vireos, plus some of
the others mentioned above in Brunswick County. We picked up a handful of
Yellow-throated Warblers in this area. We ended up seeing six total
Mississippi Kites, pairs in two locations and singles elsewhere. We also
found two Anhingas, one in Greensville County, and one straddling the
Southampton/Isle of Wight line flying over the Blackwater River, just north
of Franklin, near the Airport. We had a single singing Swainson's Warbler
along the Meherrin River, making all of us wonder how many of these birds
would be heard in a canoe trip along that river.
The rest of the day was spent stopping at promising looking areas, but not
producing much of note. It was a completely enjoyable day of birding; ever
exciting was trying to rack up a "respectable" Kite count. I suspect ten or
more of them could be logged in a day down there.
We also had a fair amount of Odes, Leps, and Herps, though the Lep numbers
were probably a bit lower than we expected. Amusing (to me) was watching
Mike and Marshall trying to discuss dragonflies when Mike only knows the
scientific name for most of the bugs, and Marshall doesn't speak too much
Latin.
It's a beautiful area to bird, and obviously full of surprises and birds hard
to find in the rest of the state. I encourage everyone to head down there
and start padding those county lists.
Cheers...
Todd
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Todd Day
Jeffersonton, VA
Culpeper County
Blkvulture@xxxxxxx
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