Hello VA-Birders,
Nothing off-the-wall today, as there was no Arctic Tern and in fact fewer
numbers of Common Terns around. I made an early morning visit to Saxis Marsh
for night birds and let the sun come up to witness the chorus. It was quiet
everywhere there, with the only rails being a few Clappers and a couple of
Virginias doing the ti-dik ti-dik, ti-dik. I had two singing Saltmarsh
Sharp-tailed Sparrows, one of which I saw but struck out on the Nelson's. Many
Seasides around aloing Hammock Rd. I did a little exploring along the roads
just east of that road and had singing Black-and-white Warbler and a singing
Worm-eating Warbler, of which both struck me as possibly significant.
Later at the CNWR, there were a couple of Gull-billed Terns, and two fly-by
north-bound White-rumped Sandpipers, but that is really it. Shorebird numbers
are a bit low along the wildlife loop, though I know we are past peak. Some of
the species included a single Black-bellied Plover, a few Dunlin, SB
Dowitchers, Semipalmated Plovers, and many Semipalmated Peeps.
I sat behind my hotel along the Chincoteague Channel this evening from 7 - 8:30
PM and had the following overflying birds and numbers:
Mallard 35
Brown Pelican 8
Great Blue Heron 4
Great Egret 97
Little Blue Heron 5
Tricolored Heron 7
Black-crowned Night-Heron 2
Yellow-crowned Night-Heron 2
Glossy Ibis 85
Peregrine Falcon 1
Laughing Gull 375
Herring Gull 25
Great Black-backed Gull 15
Forster's Tern 25
Least Tern 2
Rock Pigeon 5
Eastern Kingbird 1
American Crow 12
Fish Crow 3
Crow sp. 10
Purple Martin 6
Barn Swallow 4
Carolina Wren 1
American Robin 2
Gray Catbird 1
European Starling 18
Song Sparrow 2
Red-winged Blackbird 15
Common Grackle 8
House Sparrow 20
Nice numbers of Glossy Ibis, though no Whites amid, and the Peregrine came over
at 8:10 PM.
I will be staged at the beach tomorrow morning to see if this arriving tropical
depression makes things interesting, or the opposite.
Take Care,
Jay Keller,
Arlington
