Greetings...
Ever a glutton for punishment or at least disappointment, I scared up a few
bodies to join me on another trip down to Brunswick, Greensville, and
Southampton Counties, looking for a few good birds. The main focus of this
trek was Bachman's Sparrow, yet again.
Sue Heath, Holly Merker and Ian Topolsky were game for what was likely to be
another futile attempt at that damn sparrow. Previous efforts with Mike
Stinson and Marshall Iliff had us scouring suitable habitat, but coming up
empty. It seems the key to finding them lies with Ian's lucky boxers. We
were informed that he was wearing them on Saturday, and by about nine-fifteen
in the morning we were driving away from the bird after having great looks
and hearing it sing for twenty or so minutes. The bird was in an area that
Mike and I had checked last Saturday, in southeastern Brunswick County. It
was getting on in innings for that species for me this year, and I was
thrilled to finally get it.
Having freed up a little time by not having to search for the thing most of
the day, we were able to spend some extra time driving roads in the counties
to the east, notably Greensville and Southampton, as well as the City of
Emporia. We pretty much duplicated efforts made by Stinson, Iliff and myself
in late May, but were allowed a few extra stops because of the time saved by
finding the Bachman's early.
Immediately after finding the Bachman's, we headed to a couple other areas in
Brunswick to tie up loose ends. There were still a few roads untraveled this
year that might have good habitat, and I wanted to check them while in the
area. We didn't turn up anything new. The common birds while checking the
Bachmans' spots are Indigo Buntings, Mourning Doves, Field Sparrows, Towhees,
Chats, Prairie Warblers, Blue Grosbeaks, Northern Bobwhites, Gnatcatchers,
Summer Tanagers, and Common Yellowthroats. Less common but easy to find are
Yellow-throated and Red-eyed Vireos, Red-headed Woodpeckers, Pewees, Pine
Warblers, and Hooded Warblers.
We eventually put the Bachman's habitat behind us in quest for kites,
anhingas and anything else we could find. Ian's boxers still held their
charms, as we had a nice afternoon in the sweltering heat.
Anhinga. Four total. Three were at Taylors Millpond, a spot that held one
on 27 May. One of these birds was an adult male, the other two were
female/immature types, but too distant to be sure. Taylors Millpond is in
southeastern Greensville County on Route 622, a couple miles west of a
crossroads named Bryants Corner. The fourth Anhinga came from a completely
unexpected spot in Southampton County. We were stopped on Route 662, 3.5
miles south from the intersection with Route 615, looking for kites and
tanagers when we picked up a soaring bird to the north; turns out it was
another anhinga. We scoped the thing and watched it soar, drifting southward
riding a thermal. Eventually when it was directly overhead, it pulled its
wings in and headed southwesterly as impressively as any raptor I have ever
seen.
Mississippi Kite. We had as few as ten, or as many as eighteen. The first
bird was picked up at 12:25 as we entered the City of Emporia from the south
on Route 730. The adult bird was low over the parking lot of the St. Paul
Church of God in Christ(?), and it was headed south, out of the city. We
wanted a better look, so we turned back and caught up with the bird about a
quarter mile away, back in Greensville. It was here that we noticed a second
adult bird. We watched these two birds until they were no longer in view,
below the tree line. We headed back into Emporia for lunch. We didn't make
it very far, about a quarter of a mile beyond the church where we saw the
first bird, at the intersection of Low Ground Road and Lundy (St?). Here we
spotted another adult Mississippi Kite, and soon after had another bird with
it. These two birds were patrolling an area stretching from the railroad
tracks on Low Ground Road south to Williams Street. We followed them back to
Williams Street, where we soon noted a third bird. While three birds were in
the air, we could discern that two were adults, and one was a subadult born
last year. They were making low passes, some chasing, and one perched for a
couple minutes atop a sweet gum tree. A brief vocalization was heard during
one chase. Eventually a fourth bird appeared here from the north, another
adult. At a minimum we had four birds here, but we're unsure if the first
two birds we saw were part of the four, so it might have been six, or
possibly five.
The next kite spot was a half hour later in Southampton County, .2 miles
south on Route 615 from its western intersection with US 58. (615 bows route
58 on the south.) Here we had a pair of adult birds staying in a small area.
Up to either six, seven or eight birds for the day at this point. The next
kite spot was just north of Little Texas, the traditional area for them.
This spot was .6 miles down Route 653 from the intersection with 662. Four
birds, all adults, watched until they soared out of view heading east.
Clearly new birds, pushing our total to ten through fourteen birds. The last
kite spot was about an hour after seeing the birds north of Little Texas.
This location was 1.8 miles down 730 from Little Texas heading toward the
Meherrin. There were also four birds here, at least three were adults.
These birds could very well have been the same four birds from the last
location which was a little over two miles to the north. Impossible to say.
This gives us a total of anywhere from ten to eighteen birds for the day.
Considering that the only other hawks we saw all day were an unidentified
Accipiter, a red-tailed, and a red-shouldered, it was a blast to have kites
at least triple the total of all other raptors.
Swainson's Warbler. A bird found on originally on 27 May by Iliff, Stinson
and me, seen and heard again. It is at the Greensville/Southampton line (in
Southampton) on Route 730, at the Meherrin. It was singing at about four PM
on a very hot day.
Other birds encountered while cruising for kites were Parulas,
Prothonotaries, two silent Yellow-throated Warblers, plus many of the species
encountered while searching for Bachman's.
I'm not sure that I'll spend the same amount of time in this delightful part
of the state next year, but I'll certainly make at least an annual visit to
the area. It is so very different from the birding on the northern end of
the state. Regardless to how this big year finishes, exploring portions of
these counties guarantees that it was a success at some level.
Cheers...
Todd
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Todd M. Day
Jeffersonton, VA
Culpeper County
BlkVulture@xxxxxxx
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