Today was the first of my marshbird callback
surveys at Back Bay NWR in southern Virginia Beach. During the roughly
four hour survey I recorded 7 King Rails, 7 Soras, and one Virginia Rail.
The Soras and the Virginia will disappear before my next survey, but by then
the
Least Bitterns will have arrived and replaced them as target birds. Other
interesting birds noted included at least three singing Seaside Sparrows at my
first stop in twilight at 5:45 a.m. This is my first record of this
species in the four years of conducting these surveys. Marsh and
Sedge Wrens were also singing. The Sedge Wrens will move on and
if the last three years are indicators, so will the Marsh Wrens.
Orchard Orioles and Blue Grosbeaks added their songs, but the only warblers
were
Prairie, Pine, Yellowthroat, and Chat. The only shorebirds were both
yellowlegs, Semi-palmated Plovers, Least Sandpiper, Short-billed Dowitcher,
Solitary Sandpiper, Killdeer. There were Northern Gannets over the ocean
along with Royal, Caspian, and Forster's Terns. Most of the gulls were
Great Black-backed. A few Red-breasted Mergansers were in the surf.
Cheers,
--- Robert Ake
--- akeneff@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
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