It was a warm but windy day for the weekly shorebird survey at Chincoteague
National Wildlife Refuge. The first few mosquitos and biting flies have arrived
to mark the new season.
We counted 2,779 individual shorebirds of 14 species. The most common was
Dunlin 1,319 followed by Sanderling 625, Willet 416 and Dowitcher sp. 169.
Eastern Willets are doing their fight displays over the local marshes. The
Refuge staff has found the first Piping Plover and American Oystercatcher nests
of the year. The 112 Lesser Black-backed Gulls on Wild Beach was a high number
even for this section of beach which is known as a great place to look for this
species on the Eastern Shore.
The noteworthy non shorebird species for us were the White-faced Ibis on the
north end of the Wildlife Loop where it has been reported for over a week;
Common Gallinule an uncommon species on the Refuge, just across the paved road
from the White-faced Ibis on the Wildlife Loop; and first-of-the-year sightings
for Common Tern, House Wren and Prairie Warbler.
Below are the results of our weekly shorebird/gull survey conducted at
Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge on Tues. April 18, 2017. All water areas
(impoundments and beach areas) were covered in the 7 hour survey. All
individuals are counted for the target species; other birds seen or heard on
the survey are followed by a dash.
This is our last shorebird survey at CNWR. It has been a pleasure to carry on
this volunteer project for the past 8 years. We thank the Refuge staff
including Kevin Holcomb and Emarie Ayala for supporting us and many Refuge
volunteers who helped along the way. We especially thank Joanne and Hal
Laskowski who took on the burden of doing many of the surveys during our long
absences while we followed our other passion - traveling the world. We are
thrilled that Joanne and Hal will replace us as the main Shorebird Survey
volunteers. They will do a great job. And if they need a break later in the
fall, we may step in as "relief counters."
It has been fun!
Clyde Morris and Joelle Buffa
| Canada Goose | -- |
| Gadwall | -- |
| American Black Duck | -- |
| Mallard | -- |
| Northern Shoveler | -- |
| Green-winged Teal | -- |
| Bufflehead | -- |
| Red-throated Loon | 5 |
| Common Loon | 4 |
| Horned Grebe | 1 |
| Northern Gannet | 16 |
| Double-crested Cormorant | 109 |
| Great Blue Heron | -- |
| Great Egret | -- |
| Snowy Egret | -- |
| Little Blue Heron | -- |
| Tricolored Heron | -- |
| Cattle Egret | -- |
| White Ibis | -- |
| White-faced Ibis | -- |
| Black Vulture | -- |
| Turkey Vulture | -- |
| Osprey | -- |
| Bald Eagle | -- |
| Common Gallinule | 1 |
| American Oystercatcher | 25 |
| Black-bellied Plover | 40 |
| Semipalmated Plover | 1 |
| Piping Plover | 15 |
| Killdeer | 1 |
| Whimbrel | 18 |
| Marbled Godwit | 29 |
| Ruddy Turnstone | 2 |
| Sanderling | 625 |
| Dunlin | 1,319 |
| Short-billed/Long-billed Dowitcher | 169 |
| Greater Yellowlegs | 114 |
| Willet | 416 |
| Lesser Yellowlegs | 30 |
| Laughing Gull | 52 |
| Ring-billed Gull | 24 |
| Herring Gull | 241 |
| Lesser Black-backed Gull | 126 |
| Great Black-backed Gull | 62 |
| Common Tern | 5 |
| Forster's Tern | 91 |
| Royal Tern | 21 |
| Black Skimmer | 14 |
| Mourning Dove | -- |
| Belted Kingfisher | -- |
| American Crow | -- |
| Fish Crow | -- |
| Tree Swallow | -- |
| Carolina Chickadee | -- |
| Tufted Titmouse | -- |
| Brown-headed Nuthatch | -- |
| House Wren | -- |
| Carolina Wren | -- |
| Blue-gray Gnatcatcher | -- |
| American Robin | -- |
| European Starling | -- |
| Common Yellowthroat | -- |
| Pine Warbler | -- |
| Yellow-throated Warbler | -- |
| Prairie Warbler | -- |
| Chipping Sparrow | -- |
| Field Sparrow | -- |
| White-throated Sparrow | -- |
| Song Sparrow | -- |
| Eastern Towhee | -- |
| Northern Cardinal | -- |
| Red-winged Blackbird | -- |
| Eastern Meadowlark | -- |
| Common Grackle | -- |
| Boat-tailed Grackle | -- |
| Brown-headed Cowbird | -- |
