The shorebirds continue to be relatively numerous at the Washington Avenue
lakebed today 16 August. In the morning (ca. 0830-0930), numbers were much
reduced from the previous late afternoon/evening, but the numbers built back
up over the day. The highest count for each species during the day is
listed. It was great to get out this morning with Tom Saunders (who first
alerted me to the draining of this lake) and work over these peep slowly.
Tom notes that the lakebed will fill with drainage and rainwater in coming
weeks or months; conceivably, the site could be good for shorebirds or
waterbirds of some sort through year's end+. Make sure if birding this patch
that you stay well away from the lake's edges and from any construction
equipment. It's best to approach the lakebed from the Washington Avenue side
(OK to park on that street).
Continuing here were:
Least Sandpiper 21 (about 7 nice juv. birds)
Semipalmated Sandpiper 77
White-rumped Sandpiper 2 (afternoon only; ads.)
Baird's Sandpiper 1 juv. (morning only)
Pectoral Sandpiper 6 (2 juvs.; afternoon only for high count, 1 in morning)
Lesser Yellowlegs 13 (mix of ad., juv.)
Short-billed Dowitcher 1 molting ad. (same as on previous day; morning)
Black-bellied Plover 1 molting ad.
Semipalmated Plover 71
Killdeer 4
New species for this spot were:
Sanderling 1 ad. (morning only)
Long-billed Dowitcher 1 ad. (afternoon only)
Spotted Sandpiper 1 juv. (afternoon only)
Ruddy Turnstone 4 flyovers (from beach area)
Green Heron 1 ad. (morning only)
Little Blue Heron 1 imm. (afternoon)
Snowy Egret 1 (afternoon)
Great Blue Heron 1 imm. (afternoon)
plus scattering Herring, Laughing, Ring-billed, Great Black-backed Gulls, 1
ad. Forster's Tern in basic plumage. Caspian Terns have started to be more
numerous along the Cape Charles Beach, a mixture of ads. and juvs.
An Elegant Tern was nicely photographed in Massachusetts in the past few days
(the species nested in Florida this spring), so keep an eye out for the
species in the state. The Chincoteague bird showed up in September last
year, but there's no reason it couldn't be around now.
Ned Brinkley
Cape Charles, VA
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