Below are the results of our weekly shorebird/gull survey conducted at
Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge on Wednesday July 17, 2012 All water
areas (impoundments and beach areas) were covered in a 7 hour survey. All
individuals are counted for the target species; other birds seen or heard on
the survey are followed by a dash.
Over 5,000 individuals were seen of 19 species. Sightings of note included 77
piping plovers mostly on the Hook, 133 semi-palmated plovers, 365 willets
mostly on the beaches, 51 whimbrels mostly on Wild Beach, 1,116 sanderlings,
778 least sandpipers and 1,255 dowitchers most if not all being short-billed
dowitchers. These are all higher numbers then we usually see on the Refuge this
early in the fall migration. The 64 lesser black-backed gulls is a large
increase over last week. We are learning to expect a build up of this species
in the fall and winter as it has become increasingly common on Wild Beach the
last couple of years.
Joelle Buffa and Clyde Morris
Canada Goose --
American Black Duck --
Mallard --
Double-crested Cormorant 42
Brown Pelican 91
Great Blue Heron --
Great Egret --
Snowy Egret --
Little Blue Heron --
Tricolored Heron --
Cattle Egret --
Green Heron --
White Ibis --
Glossy Ibis --
Turkey Vulture --
Osprey --
Bald Eagle --
Red-tailed Hawk --
Clapper Rail --
Black-bellied Plover 34
Semipalmated Plover 141
Piping Plover 77
Killdeer 12
American Oystercatcher 30
Spotted Sandpiper 9
Greater Yellowlegs 74
Willet 365
Lesser Yellowlegs 487
Greater/Lesser Yellowlegs 98
Whimbrel 51
Marbled Godwit 6
Ruddy Turnstone 18
Red Knot 10
Sanderling 1,116
Semipalmated Sandpiper 160
Western Sandpiper 1
Least Sandpiper 778
peep sp. 310
Stilt Sandpiper 25
Short/Long-billed Dowitcher 1,255
Laughing Gull 542
Ring-billed Gull 21
Herring Gull 222
Lesser Black-backed Gull 64
Great Black-backed Gull 86
Least Tern 95
Caspian Tern 2
Common Tern 26
Forster's Tern 62
Royal Tern 30
Sandwich Tern 1
Mourning Dove --
Great Horned Owl --
Chimney Swift --
Red-headed Woodpecker --
Eastern Wood-Pewee --
Great Crested Flycatcher --
Eastern Kingbird --
American Crow --
Fish Crow --
Horned Lark --
Purple Martin --
Tree Swallow --
Barn Swallow --
Carolina Chickadee --
House Wren --
American Robin --
Northern Mockingbird --
Brown Thrasher --
European Starling --
Common Yellowthroat --
Pine Warbler --
Prairie Warbler --
Yellow-breasted Chat --
Eastern Towhee --
Northern Cardinal --
Blue Grosbeak --
Indigo Bunting --
Red-winged Blackbird --
Eastern Meadowlark --
Common Grackle --
Brown-headed Cowbird --
Orchard Oriole --
