Greetings, Virginia birders,
Inspired by Bob Ake's report of his Friday walk at Jericho Ditch, I walked in
the same area Sunday morning for about three hours. Birds were strongly singing
at 7:30 AM, but by 9:00 AM, it had gotten quite hot, the birds got quiet and
the butterflies started getting most of my attention. Most of what I saw and
heard closely matched Bob's list from two days before, but I did hear a
surprise warbler that seemed pretty early in the season. An OVENBIRD was
singing loudly and repeatedly near the footbridge on the north end of Jericho
Ditch, right where the Dwarf Trillium are starting to bloom. I had my camera
ready, but I couldn't get it to respond to any squeaking or spishing; so Todd
Day will just have to take my word for it!
I walked from Five Points up to Williamson Ditch, then down to the "dogleg" and
back to the car. In some checklist's order, I saw or heard: 2 Black Vultures, 5
Turkey Vultures, 4 Wood Ducks, EIGHT Red-shouldered Hawks (paired-up and
fighting interlopers!), 1 Belted Kingfisher, 8 Red-bellied Woodpeckers, 1
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, 9 Downy Woodpeckers, 7 Hairy Woodpeckers, 4 Northern
Flickers, 10 Pileated Woodpeckers, 2 Blue-headed Vireos, 4 Blue Jays, 3
Carolina Chickadees, 5 White-breasted Nuthatches, 7 Carolina Wrens, 3 Winter
Wrens, 3 Golden-crowned Kinglets, 10 Ruby-crowned Kinglets, 4 Hermit Thrushes,
460 American Robins, 5 Gray Catbirds, 1 Orange-crowned Warbler, 5 Yellow-rumped
Warblers, 3 Pine Warblers, 1 Ovenbird, 1 Louisiana Waterthrush, 1 Common
Yellowthroat, 6 Eastern Towhees, 1 Chipping Sparrow, 4 Swamp Sparrows, 5
White-throated Sparrows, 22 Dark-eyed Juncos, 1 Northern Cardinal, 2 Red-winged
Blackbirds, 3 Rusty Blackbirds, 3 Common Grackles, 1 Brown-headed Cowbird, and
3 American Goldfinches. At one point, a Winter Wren and a Ruby-crowned Kinglet
were dueling their similar songs, accompanied by a singing Hermit Thrush, a
most-northerly-sounding experience!
Non-avian highlights included a constant chattering din from countless Southern
Leopard Frogs, the snores of Pickerel Frogs, and the peeps and trills of Spring
Peepers and Brimley's Chorus Frogs. I also saw a Spotted Turtle, 2 River Otters
and 2 White-tailed Deer. Tracks included those of Otters, Raccoons and a
Bobcat. I saw 1 Mourning Cloak butterfly, 3 Cloudless Sulphurs, 10
Questionmarks and 2 of what I took to be Orange Sulphurs. As noted earlier, the
Dwarf Trillium are blooming and should continue for several weeks.
The Cape Henry Audubon Society will conduct a bird walk in this Jericho Ditch
area of Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge on Saturday, March 25, 2006. The
official start time is 8:00 AM, but earlier worms hear more birds. All of our
trips are free and welcome to the public.
Good birding!
David L. Hughes
CHAS Field Trips
Portsmouth, VA Get more from the Web. FREE MSN Explorer download :
http://explorer.msn.com
