[va-richmond-general] Crewe's Channel, 8/24/08

If you haven't made the trip out to Crewe's Channel, you owe it to yourself to get out there -- it's definitely worth a visit right now. I spent about an hour and a half there this morning, starting just after 7:30. I was greeted with quite a spectacle when I first drove up - fifty-plus Great Egrets, five or so Great Blue Herons, and the three Tricolored Herons foraged in the shallow water as a Bald Eagle monitored from a snag off at the far end of the wetland. The Egrets began moving off not long after I arrived, so that by the time I left there were perhaps a dozen left. There were good numbers of shorebirds, mostly Semipalmated Sandpipers. I wasn't able to tease any Least Sandpipers out of the mix today, but there were a few Spotted, Solitary, and Pectoral Sandpipers, as well as two or three Lesser Yellowlegs, and, of course, our resident Killdeer.
The water in the channel is low enough that I saw the backs of several large fish (Carp? I'm no expert, sorry.) poking out of the water as they swam around. There were at least two large snapping turtles feasting on unlucky specimens, and I got to witness what looked like a mating attempt between two of the turtles, unless it was some kind of dominance display -- I don't know enough about snapping turtles' calendars to say which. Suffice it to say, it was impressive to see a turtle move that fast.
In all, I found 33 species today, listed below. The Tricolored Herons were there the entire time, near the road, and weren't the least bit shy. A scope is helpful, though there were quite a few birds in binocular range, too. 

--
Lewis Barnett -- Chair, Dept. of Math & CS, U. of Richmond, VA 23173
             -- lbarnett@xxxxxxxxxxxx | lbarnett@xxxxxxx
             -- http://www.mathcs.richmond.edu/~lbarnett/

Location:     Crewe's Channel
Observation date:     8/24/08
Number of species:     33

Great Blue Heron     4
Great Egret     55
Tricolored Heron     3
Bald Eagle     1
Red-shouldered Hawk     X
Killdeer     10
Spotted Sandpiper     1
Solitary Sandpiper     4
Lesser Yellowlegs     3
Semipalmated Sandpiper     40
Pectoral Sandpiper     3
Mourning Dove     1
Chimney Swift     1
Ruby-throated Hummingbird     2
Belted Kingfisher     1
Red-bellied Woodpecker     X
Northern Flicker     2
Pileated Woodpecker     X
Eastern Wood-Pewee     X
White-eyed Vireo     X
Red-eyed Vireo     2
Blue Jay     X
Tree Swallow     2
Barn Swallow     1
Carolina Chickadee     2
Tufted Titmouse     2
White-breasted Nuthatch     1
Carolina Wren     X
American Robin     1
Eastern Towhee     X
Indigo Bunting     1
Common Grackle     3
American Goldfinch     2

This report was generated automatically by eBird v2(http://ebird.org/VA)

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