All,
Here is the list of upcoming Bird Walks for the Northern Neck Audubon
Society.
*21 September -- Rockfish Gap Hawk Watch,* located at the Inn at Afton,
conveniently located just off I-64, exit 99 east of Waynesboro, VA. Park
in the parking lot of the Afton Inn and walk around the side of the
building, set up your chair or sit on the grassy hillside. You most
definitely want to bring your binoculars, a hat, water and or food and
lastly a chair to sit in. I will be leaving the Kilmarnock/White Stone
area around 7 am. If you would like to car pool please contact me at
509-951-3179. I will be happy to make arrangements to meet you in
Tappahannock or anywhere along the route. My van can sit 4 comfortably and
6 total. I plan to depart the hawk watch somewhere around 2pm to head back
to the northern neck.
Last year on Sept 18th they set some impressive species records, in
addition to nearly 4,000 Broad-wings, we ended up breaking three single-day
records: a) the BALD EAGLE single-day record was crushed with 83 (prior
record was 32 on 9/3/17), b) the MERLIN single-day record was crushed with
21 (prior record was 10 on 10/15/05), and c) the single day record for
total number of raptor species was broken with 14 species (prior record was
12 achieved 7 times). September 26 had 10,154 BROAD-WINGS, which is our
third highest single-day count ever (the highest was 11,783 on 9/16/86) and
had 12 PEREGRINE FALCONS, which is our second highest single-day count ever
(the highest was 17 on 10/8/2014). Don't miss out on this excellent
opportunity to see our birds of prey in large numbers.
This trip will correspond with there open house for the Hawk Watch, so
there should be plenty of people to meet.
*30 September -- Tangier Island Bird Walk,* Join us for a walk on Tangier
Island. We will meet at the Ferry Dock by 9:45am located at 468 Buzzards
Point Rd, Reedville, VA. Individuals are responsible for purchasing there
own Ferry Tickets. The Chesapeake Breeze will depart at 10 am and arrive
in Tangier about 90 minutes later. During the transit there is always the
possibility of seeing some offshore birds that are a little off course,
depending on the winds. As we arrive there will b plenty of opportunity to
see a variety of shore birds. Once on the island I will lead a group
around as I did last year, you may choose to join us or wander at your own
pace. There are several places to get lunch on the island. Ferry prices
are around $30 round trip and the boat leaves Tangier at 2:15 in the
afternoon, which gives us about 2.5 hours on the island.
*September 29 -- Fones Cliffs Bio Blitz,* please RSVP through Lauren Cruz
at, lauren_cruz@xxxxxxx
*14 October -- Hutchinson Tract,* I will be confirming this trip next week
with Lauren.
*19 October -- eBird Global Big Day,* nothing required except getting out
and looking at birds. If you can't get out, simply recording birds in your
back yard is fine as well. All you need to participate is an eBird
account. Just load your observations that day. Since birding is better
with friends maybe get together with some friends and bird together
somewhere new. I will be out of town so I will not be leading any birds
walks that day.
*26 October -- George Washington's Birthplace,* Melissa will be leading a
walk at George Washington's Birthplace. This is always a great place to
see birds. With views over looking Popes Creek and a walk along the tree
lined bluffs there is no telling what we might see that day. Last October
Melissa recorded almost 45 species there, including Bald Eagles, Red
Shouldered Hawks, five species of Woodpeckers, a Cape May Warbler, some
nuthatches and a little creeper. Not to mention many others.
If you have any ideas for a bird walk please pass them along to me. In May
we will be doing a Kayak Bird Walk or Bird Paddle, more information will be
forthcoming on that. It will give us an opportunity to see species that
live on the waters edge we should be able to glimpse an American Oyster
Catcher up close.
Joe
509-951-3179
jcooney805@xxxxxxxxx
