VA Birders,
Sorry for this late post, but we get so few reports from Chincoteague
these days that I thought I would post a report even if it is late. I joined
Marv & Mary Kaye Rubin at Chincoteague last Friday, Aug. 19, after driving thru
a
horrendous rain storm all the way from Princess Anne, MD, to Chincoteague.
The rain stopped shortly after I arrived, but it dumped a lot of water in Swan
Cove, just about covering the flats there, and I suspect, making Snow Goose
Pool into a pool again. We began our birding Friday afternoon with a drive
down
south Main Street in the town of Chincoteague, where we found a
YELLOW-CROWNED NIGHT-HERON, which appeared to be in heavy molt, and a
BLACK-CROWNED NIGHT
HERON as well. Then we drove around the Wildlife Drive at Chincoteague NWR,
where our best birds were several PECTORAL SANDPIPERS in Snow Goose Pool. We
also saw both YELLOWLEGS and some LEAST SANDPIPERS there. A few LEAST TERNS
and
BLACK SKIMMERS were also seen there. In fact, we did most of our birding
from air conditioned vehicles, since the weather was still very hot.
On Saturday morning, Aug. 20, we drove out to the ocean beach, where we
found mostly beach-goers. The ocean beach south of the parking areas is now
totally closed to protect beach-nesting birds. We didn't see much driving to
and from the beach, either; the parking area where we used to stop at Black
Duck
Marsh has been torn up and apparently a bike trail is going in there. Then
we drove the east side of the island in town, where we found a CLAPPER RAIL and
4 chicks crossing a road that goes out into the marsh.
Saturday afternoon, we decided to take the Chincoteague Natural History
Association's bus trip to the Wash Flats, after learning that 2 AMERICAN
AVOCETS were being seen there. Altho we couldn't get out of the bus on this
trip,
the bus was not full and the driver stopped for birds upon request as well as
ponies. Mary Kaye spotted the avocets at the back of a pond where we could
just barely make them out with our binoculars (unfortunately, we didn't take
our
scopes on the bus trip). We also spotted a juvenile BALD EAGLE sitting on a
sand spit--very possibly one of the young ones from the nest monitored by the
refuge's camcorder this year--which was enjoyed by everyone on the bus. After
the bus trip, we found a WHIMBREL out on a spit in the water.
A little later that afternoon, we drove the Wildlife Drive again, and
this time we found a BLACK TERN in Snow Goose pool. We had good views of it
sitting on a grassy spit and then flying back and forth right in front of us!
Last but not least, after driving thru the woods, we found 2 BLACK-NECKED
STILTS
in the water on the right side of the drive, opposite Snow Goose Pool, which
the refuge map calls Shoveler's Pond (I don't think I had seen that name
before). The Rubins said they had also seen the stilts there a week or 2
earlier.
Sunday, we drove down the VA Eastern Shore. We stopped at Willis Wharf,
but the tide was very high, and we didn't find any birds there. We stopped
briefly at Kiptopeke State Park, where we found a few SANDERLINGS on the rock
jetty by the boat launch, but not much else. We also checked Arlington Road,
just north of the park, where I had some good shorebirds on a pond last year,
but the field had not yet been cut, and we didn't find any pools of water
there.
At Eastern Shore of VA NWR, where we ended our trip, we found a female
GREEN-WINGED TEAL and a BLACK DUCK with the MALLARDS at Ramp Road Pond, but not
much else.
Good birding,
Val Kitchens
Arlington, VA
You are subscribed to VA-BIRD. To post to this mailing list, simply send email
to va-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx. To unsubscribe, send email to
va-bird-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with 'unsubscribe' in the Subject field.
