[Va-bird] CBR: Greensville, Southampton, and Emporia 28 Decmeber; Laughing Gull

From: BlkVulture@xxxxxxx
To: va-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Date: Tue, 29 Dec 2015 01:32:24 -0500

Greetings,

From about eleven AM until dark on Monday I was able to do some

county/city birding around Southside. I've spent a fair amount of time  birding
this
area in spring/summer, but have never done so in winter.  One  observation
that I made during six hours or so of birding is that there are far  more
cotton fields in this part of the state than I remember from previous  years,
and that these cotton fields don't seem particularly hospitable to  birds. No
raptors, no field birds, nada. It makes me suspect that heavy use  of
pesticides isn't good for insect or rodent populations in those fields.

Greensville County was first up.  My first two stops each had a  harrier,
and I figured I was going to be running into that species all day,  however
they were the only two that I saw.  I also saw several flocks of  icterids at
my first couple of stops, but like the harriers, I didn't see many  more.
Most interesting to me about the blackbirds was that most of the  Grackles
were Bronzed/Interior types.  A Kestrel and a few Wilson's Snipe  were new for
me for the county along Bass Road.  After a visit to Emporia  for lunch and
a little city birding, I stopped by Taylor's Millpond in the  southeastern
part of the county and added three Ruddy Ducks and a couple of  Pied-billed
Grebes.

The Meherrin River had exceeded its banks, and much of Low Ground Road
(Greensville) and Little Texas Road (the Southampton counterpart to Low Ground)
were flooded.  There were signs in Southampton that closed the road,
however none were posted for anyone traveling east from Greensville.   I only
saw the Southampton signs as I passed them. The water was never higher  than
five or six inches.  The most interesting thing that I saw was a  Pied-billed
Grebe that was swimming in a flooded field, and while I was mulling  my
options of whether or not to proceed through the standing water, the  grebe
paddled across Low Ground Road to a field on the south side of the  road.

eBird checklists from Greensville:

http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S26492297 Simmons  Travel ;
Center (Harrier)
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S26492664 Bass  Road ;(Snipe,
Kestrel, Harrier)
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S26493102 Skippers  Road ;(large
blackbird flock)
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S26493353 Zion  Church Road ;
(Ring-billed Gulls, Thrasher)
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S26495510 Taylor's  Millpond
(Grebe, Ruddy Ducks)

City of Emporia was a short visit, with just a couple stops and  lunch.  I
birded a little thicket along Faison Street in a small  neighborhood on the
south side of the city.  Some pishing at the thicket  was surprisingly
productive.  No real surprises, but many of the common  winter birds were
rather
cooperative.

eBird checklist from Faison Street:

http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S26494043

Southampton County provided the best birds of the day, in the form of three
Laughing Gulls and five Herring Gulls among a flock of 325 Ring-billed
Gulls  feeding in a flooded field along Little Texas Road. Otherwise,
Southampton was  also mostly the expected winter species. A half-dozen Rusty
Blackbirds  picking through leaf litter along Little Texas Road was pleasant to
see.

eBird checklists from Southampton:

http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S26495853 southernmost  part of ;
Little Texas Road (Gulls)
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S26496580 midsection  of Little ;
Texas Road (Rusty Blackbird)
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S26496759 Bellyache  Swamp

Cheers,

Todd

-------------------------------
Todd Michael Day
Jeffersonton,  Virginia
Culpeper  County
blkvulture@xxxxxxx
-------------------------------

[Va-bird] CBR: Greensville, Southampton, and Emporia 28 Decmeber; Laughing Gull

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