Dear VA Birders.
On Jan 5 the Walkerton CBC was conducted by 29 participants in 9 teams in the
Mattaponi and Pamunkey Rivers region of the Middle Peninsula, mostly in King
William and King and Queen counties as well as a little sliver of New Kent and
Hanover counties on the south side of the Pamunkey. Most of this under-birded
area is private property so we all give GREATthanks to the many landowners
(35+) who again granted us access to their beautiful and bird-filled properties
for this Audubon Society bird count.
The day started windless and overcast, a perfect morning for hearing and seeing
passerines, and ended with a little bit of rain in the late afternoon. We found
104 species, our second highest in the 19 year history of the count (the
highest count was 108). Two new species were added to our species list: a
Common Loon seen flying over the Pamunkey R by Tim Hodge, and the gorgeous
male Vermilion Flycatcher found in Manquin (King William) by Ellison Orcutt,
Chris Foster, and Brad Davis (with his 6 and 8 year old sons). Many thanks to
Ellison for getting the word out so many of us could leave our sectors to get
over to see the bird before dark. As Ellison emailed earlier, at this point
access has not been granted for birders to look for this bird after the count
day. Ellison will email the list-serve if that access is granted. Also many
thanks to Brad Davis who used his jeep to pull two cars out of the mud over the
course of the day. Bill Portlock
took his boat out on the Mattaponi River with Kent and Chuck: our first
boat-coverage in a few years.
Several species high counts were smashed this year. Especially notable high
counts were palm warbler (12), fox sparrow (54), hermit thrush (126), and
Carolina wren (218). Several other new high counts are noted below.
Other exciting finds were Merlin, Peregrine, 2 House Wren, 2 Cackling Geese,
several Rusty Blackbirds, two coveys of Bob-whites (16), and some very close
views of Barred Owls.
On the low-side were only 1 Red-headed Woodpecker, 1 Sharp-shinned Hawk, 8
Snipes, and 2 House Sparrows. Other below average counts are noted below. Birds
missed this year that were expected and are frequently present were Common
Goldeneye, Red-breasted Merganser, and Snow Goose. There were also no
Red-breasted Nuthatches, purple finches, or pine siskins this year which is not
a surprise since this is not an iruption year.
Here are the totals, with a few comments. PHC = previous high count; A =
Average before this year
21 Pied-billed Grebe: above average; PHC 53; A 13
1 Common Loon: new to count
28 Double-crested Cormorant: above average; PHC 38; A 9
46 Great Blue Heron: above average; PHC 69; A 36
136 Tundra Swan: new high count; PHC 119; A 36
12494 Canada Goose: above average; PHC 17400; A 5819. It is difficult to know
if there was any double-counting of these highly mobile birds
2 Cackling Geese: single birds in New Kent and The Pocket area. PHC 2; A 0; 4th
year found
52 Wood Duck: above average; PHC 120; A 22
92 Green-winged Teal: PHC 316; A 82
193 American Black Duck: above average; PHC 464; A 124
906 Mallard: way above average; PHC 1214, A 449
1 Mallard/Black hybrid: our first noted on this CBC; Fenton Day in Walkerton
1230 Northern Pintail: above average; PHC 2730; A 539; surprisingly these were
mostly in the Mattaponi this year, not the Pamunkey
7 Northern Shoveler: PHC 105; A 14
145 Gadwall: above average; PHC 420; A 82
9 American Wigeon: above average; PHC 20; A 4
7 Redhead: new high count; PHC 3; only seen on 5 previous counts
1 Canvasback: in Walkerton; PHC 361; only seen on 4 previous counts
20 Lesser Scaup: PHC 447; A 32
12 Scaup sp
498 Ring-necked Duck: above average; PHC 1144; A 346
415 Bufflehead: way above average; PHC 470; A 98
85 Hooded Merganser: way above average; PHC 89; A 29
7 Common Merganser: PHC 34; A 10
206 Ruddy Duck: above average; PHC 580; A 79
174 Black Vulture: above average; PHC 289; A 118
216 Turkey Vulture: PHC 649; A 251
60 Bald Eagle (48 ad, 12 imm): PHC 68; A 34. It is difficult to know if there
was any double-counting of these mobile and visible birds
9 Northern Harrier: PHC 19; A 7
1 Sharp-shinned Hawk: low count; PHC 11; A 4
2 Cooper's Hawk: PHC 6, A 2
38 Red-shouldered Hawk: new high count; PHC 32; A 17
23 Red-tailed Hawk: PHC 39; A 26
6 American Kestrel: below average; PHC 17; A 9
1 Merlin: seen on 7 previous counts. Found in the King William Courthouse
sector.
1 Peregrine: seen on 2 previous counts. Found by the Aylett team.
27 Wild Turkey: PHC 101; A 35 (There was a flock of 78 in one sector the day
before the CBC but the flock could not be found on count day)
16 Northern Bobwhite: above average; PHC 28; A 9. All were in The Pocket sector.
7 American Coot: PHC 628; A 66. All in the New Kent side of The Pocket
318 Killdeer: way above average; PHC 625; A 187
5 Greater Yellowlegs
3 yellowlegs sp
8 Dunlin: way below average: PHC 612; A 75
8 Wilson's Snipe: way below average: PHC 202; A 57
19 American Woodcock: PHC 187; A 17
852 Ring-billed Gull: way above average; PHC 939; A 309
4 Herring Gull: PHC 19; A 3
38 Rock Pigeon: PHC 78; A 20
471 Mourning Dove: PHC 956; A 401
8 E Screech-owl: above average; PHC 12; A 4
9 Barred Owl; PHC 15; A 7
10 Great Horned Owl: PHC 40; A 10
28 Belted Kingfisher: PHC 43; A 20
1 Red-headed Woodpecker: low count; PHC 33; A 13. Found by Jacob in the Pocket
sector.
102 Red-bellied Woodpecker: PHC 145; A 67
40 Yellow-bellied Sapsucker: ties prev high; PHC 40, A 24
68 Downy Woodpecker: PHC 90; A 47
13 Hairy Woodpecker: PHC 34; A 14
123 Flicker: PHC 234; A 126
64 Pileated Woodpecker: new high count: PHC 60; A 30
27 E. Phoebe: above average; PHC 32; A 19
1 Vermilion Flycatcher: new to count, photographed
77 Horned Lark: PHC 204; A 66
83 Blue Jay: PHC 142; A 73
814 Am Crow: above average; PHC 820; A 531
4 Fish Crow: PHC 6; seen on 2 previous counts. Found today in New Kent/Hanover
sector and King William
151 Carolina Chickadee: way above average; PHC 165; A 96
161 Tufted Titmouse: way above average; PHC 150; A 81
38 White-breasted Nuthatch: PHC 58: A 30
17 Brown Creeper: way above average; PHC 20; A 7
218 Carolina Wren: new high count: PHC 161; A 90
43 Winter Wren: new high count: PHC 34; A 14
2 House Wren: PHC 2; seen on 3 previous counts; single birds in Pocket and King
William sectors
103 Golden-crowned Kinglet: new high count; PHC 98, A 49
31 Ruby-crowned Kinglet: PHC 71; A 29
203 E. Bluebird: PHC 482; A 203
126 Hermit Thrush: new high count; PHC 45, A 25
1848 Am Robin: PHC 4480; A 1544
6 G Catbird: above average; PHC 7, A 3
61 Mockingbird: above average;; PHC 110; A 45
10 Brown Thrasher: PHC 23; A 10
313 Am Pipit: above average; PHC 365; A 107
177 Cedar Waxwing: below average; PHC 1308; A 398
429 Starling: below average; PHC 1670; A 721
68 Yellow-rumped Warbler: below average; PHC 199; A 92
1 Pine Warbler: PHC 5; A 2. Found as usual by Dana and Brad in the King William
Courthouse sector
12 (Yellow race) Palm Warbler: new high count; 1 bird seen on 1 previous count.
New Kent by Tim, Sandy, Sally, and Brenda
380 Cardinal: above average; PHC 493; A 198
36 E Towhee: PHC 71; A 28
46 Chipping Sparrow: PHC 209; A 35
17 Field Sparrow: below average; PHC 77; A 31
78 Savannah Sparrow: PHC 127; A 36
54 Fox Sparrow: new high count; PHC 14; A 7 (31 of them by Dana and Brad mostly
in Sandy Point State Forest
494 Song Sparrow: new high count; PHC 472; A 271
85 Swamp Sparrow: PHC 119; A 49
1461 White-throated Sparrow: new high count; PHC 1429; A 936
1 White-crowned Sparrow: PHC 33; A 4
641 DE Junco: PHC 1307; A 610
6790 RW Blackbird: PHC 250987; A 40919
9 Rusty Blackbird: PHC 28; seen on 7 previous counts
78 Meadowlark: PHC 176; A 57
368 C Grackle: way below average; PHC 167452; A 25542
414 BH Cowbird: PHC 4652; A 308
49 House Finch: PHC 188; A 53
112 Am Goldfinch: below average; PHC 408; A 145
2 House Sparrow: new low count; PHC 78; A 21
MANY, many thanks to the excellent teams of birders who worked very
conscientiously and skillfully to count every bird they could find.
Aylett: Ann and Kevin Jennings, Leslie Fellows, Chuck Epes, Lou Schiavo
Pampatike to Manquin: Ellison Orcutt, Chris Foster, Brad Davis, Ethan Davis,
Nate Davis
Cohoke: Hayes Williams, Nick Flanders
Walkerton: Fenton Day
Fish Hatchery/Stevensville: Teta Kain; David Smith
King William Courthouse area: Dana Bradshaw; Bryan Watts
The Pocket area: Nick Newberry, Jacob Barkett, me
New Kent/Hanover: Tim Hodge, Sandy Young, Sally Knight, Brenda Chase
Mattaponi River: Bill Portlock; Kent Ihrman, Chuck Gibson
Wishing you all a great 2014 full of excellent views of LOTS of birds.
Next year's Walkerton CBC will probably be on Sunday Jan 4, 2015.
Frederick D. Atwood fredatwood at yahoo dot com
Flint Hill School, 10409 Academic Dr, Oakton, VA 22124
703-242-1675
http://www.agpix.com/fredatwood
http://www.flinthill.org
http://tea.armadaproject.org/tea_atwoodfrontpage.html
