This morning I resumed my Thursday scheduled walk
in the Dismal Swamp. Today the route was Jericho Ditch from Five Points to
Williamson Ditch, east to New Ditch, south to Hudnell Ditch, and west to Five
Points, a total distance of about six miles. For those of you who would
like a trail map of the Great Dismal Swamp there is one at the FWS website
http://greatdismalswamp.fws.gov/TrailsMap.html . ;
I began the walk at 7:30 am and finished at 11:30 am. A road grader was
smoothing out Jericho Ditch Lane as I left. The weather was reasonable at
the beginning but became windy and quite cool from about 10 am.
Nevertheless, it was a good morning with several new birds for me for the Swamp
this year. These included Ruby-throated Hummingbird (3), Northern
Parula (1), Purple Martin (3), Yellow-throated Vireo (1), Red-eyed Vireo
(2), Chimney Swift (1), and Great Crested Flycatcher (3). The warbler list
in the order I saw them with numbers is as follows: Common Yellowthroat (56),
Prothonotary Warbler (31), Ovenbird (22), Prairie Warbler (33), Wormeating
Warbler (4), Swainson's Warbler (5), Yellow-rumped Warbler (36), Hooded Warbler
(4), Yellow-throated Warbler (1), Northern Parula (1), Pine Warbler (5),
Louisiana Waterthrush (1), and Black-and-white Warbler (8). There were
four Swainson's Warblers between Five Points and Williamson and one along
Williamson a short distance east of Jericho Ditch. The most
cooperative bird was the one at the corner of Jericho and Williamson
Ditches. Judging from the numbers recorded, the Prairie Warblers
and probably the Common Yellowthroats have benefited from the bushhogging that
has been done along the ditches.
The butterflies were almost nonexistent because of
the cooling weather. I did record 3 Zebra Swallowtails, 3 Eastern Tiger
Swallowtails, and my first of the year Pearl Crescent.
As an additional note I visited Back Bay NWR on
Tuesday, April 15, and ran into a small flock of male Indigo Buntings that
had apparently just dropped in. Quite a spectacle! The only
butterflies I saw there were 6 Falcate Orangetips and 3 Question Marks.
The ocean had hundreds of Double-crested Cormorants, dozens of Northern
Gannets,
Great Black-backed and Herring Gulls, Forster's Terns, a few Common Loons,
Red-breasted Mergansers, and Brown Pelicans, one Red-throated Loon, and a
fly-by
Red-necked Grebe.
--- Robert Ake
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