VA BIRDers,
I found a few hours for some light birding at the Eastern Shore National
Wildlife Refuge yesterday and today (in between meetings). The refuge is
located near the tip of the Kiptopeke peninsula, east side of Rt 13.
A short visit Friday evening on ramp road produced (the expected) a couple of
Clapper Rails in the extensive salt marsh (which was near low tide). A Sedge
Wren on the far side of the nearby pond returned call notes to the prompting
of playback songs.
Saturday morning was fairly active, with many flocks of birds flying overhead
in all directions. A visit to the Coastal Virginia Wildlife Observatory
banding nets showed that a great banding day was in progress, too. Here are
a few notes on some of the interesting items I witnessed in the morning.
Nearly a dozen Northern Gannets were feeding close to Wise point - the
northern terminus of the CBBT. Several could be seen floating on the water
just a couple hundred meters offshore. Curiously, a single Laughing Gull in
full alternate plumage was mixed in with the gannets. Only a couple of
Common Loons were noted in this area, but 2 Red-throated Loons flew east over
Wise point earlier. Several scattered groups of Brown Pelicans were seen,
all flying northerly up the bay or alongside the CBBT, yet only a few groups
of DC Cormorants were observed flying similarly. The waters near Wise Point
held a couple hundred Red-breasted Mergansers.
The pine woods at Wise held the usual Pine Warblers - these birds could be
heard singing in nearly every pine woodlot in the area. Scattered throughout
the woodland and its edges were E. Phoebes; their chip notes were quite
common this morning. A smaller number of Towhees were heard. A single
Brown-headed Nuthatch was noted near the mist nets. Overhead, several small
to medium sized groups of American Robins and Common Grackles were seen to be
constantly flying about. It was not until later in the day (after noon) that
I saw Tree Swallows and those were mainly singles or small groups flying
high, but this was likely due to the fact that I could not look up until
then. Two groups of Cedar Waxwings were noted near the bunkers.
Yellow-rumped Warblers were, of course, everywhere in large numbers and I
noted a couple of them sang brief stanzas. One of the more interesting
sightings was along Rt 600 where I saw a Common Grackle land on the back of a
Starling, which was initially perched on a wire over the road, and push the
bird downward. I lost sight of the scene in my rear view mirror when the
fighting pair was about 12 feet above the asphault. Lastly, Field Sparrows
were actively singing in the fields of the refuge and a Brown Thrasher was
noted near some bushes by a roadside.
Kurt Gaskill
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