VA BIRDers,
The regular Sunday Field Trip, sponsored by the Friends of Dyke Marsh for the
public, took place under good conditions for July - sunny skies, light
breeze, temps in the high 70's to low 80's F and medium humidity. The 10 or
so birders found July birding to be a bit tough with a reduction of singing
and many of the breeders and young often hiding out of sight. Yet, we
preservered and found several local highlights such as a glimpse of Least
Bittern flying over cattails, Osprey on nest and feeding young, Ruby-throated
Hummingbird foraging, a dispersed E. Phoebe (this species does not breed at
Dyke), Warbling Vireos, Purple Martins, several singing Marsh Wrens, juvenile
plumaged Yellow Warbler, Prothonotary Warbler, several Indigo Buntings, and
representatives of Orchard and Baltimore Orioles.
While the group traversed Haul Road, our Breeding Bird Survey Crew lead by
Larry Cartwright confirmed No. Parula and also located E. Wood Pewee and
Acadian Flycatcher. Earlier in the morning, yours truly found 3 White-eyed
Vireos - 2 adults and a bird of the year!
For shorebird and waterfowl count, visits earlier this week netted the first
Herring Gull of the fall migration season and the beginnings of shorebird
migration. The shallows of Hunting Creek Bay netted 4 Ruddy Ducks - one male
and 3 females! Three American Coots continue to hang out near the island by
the marina. I returned early this evening to the Stone Bridge area and found
a few shorebirds on the shrinking mudflats of Hunting Creek:
Killdeer 33
Greater Yellowlegs 1
Lesser Yellowlegs 2
Spotted Sandpiper 1
Least Sandpiper 8
Also spotted in the SAV beds (submerged aquatic vegetation; great nursery for
small fish and crustaceans) were 3 Pied-billed Grebes. Single members of
this species were spotted a few times in June and with today's three I must
think that breeding may have occurred somewhere nearby. Great Egret,
Laughing Gull and tern numbers continued to increase over last week totals
and were joined by Snowy Egret. Curiously, counts of Canada Goose and
Mallard were down from last week - this may be just a natural variation in
the count accuracy or could indicate dispersal and mortality.
I include below a high counts of nearly everything spotted this week (mainly
the Sunday Field Trip results).
Kurt Gaskill
Pied-billed Grebe 3
DC Cormorant 57
Least Bittern 1
Great Blue Heron 23
Great Egret 21
Snowy Egret 1
Canada Goose 302
Wood Duck 1
Mallard 140
Ring-necked Duck "Firestone" 1
Ruddy Duck 4
Osprey 7
Am Coot 3
(shorebirds above)
Laughing Gull 47
Ring-billed Gull 248
Herring Gull 1
Great Black-backed Gull 6
Caspian Tern 14
Forster's Tern 16
Rock Dove 29
Mourning Dove 7
YB Cuckoo 2
Chimney Swift 9
Ruby-throated Hummingbird 1
Belted Kingfisher 1
Red-bellied WP 6
Downy WP 5
No. Flicker 4 FY
E. Wood Pewee 1
Acadian Flycatcher 3
E. Phoebe 1
E. Kingbird 3
White-eyed V 3 incl one imm.
Warbling V 3
Red-eyed V 4
Blue Jay 3
Am Crow 10
Fish Crow 2
crow sp. 4
Purple Martin 2
Tree Sw 3
No. Rough-winged Sw 3
Barn Sw 17
C. Chickadee 13
T. Titmouse 16
White-breasted Nuthatch 4
C. Wren 18
M. Wren 4
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 5
Wood Thrush 1, another dispersal bird
Am Robin 7
Gray Catbird 3
No. Mockingbird 2
Starling 20
No. Parula 3
Yellow Warbler 1
Prothonotary Warbler 1
Com Yellowthroat 5
Song Sp 5
No. Cardinal 17
Indigo Bunting 4, males - can breeding be possible?
Red-winged Blackbird 20
Com Grackle 12
Brown-headed Cowbird 1, thanks Sonia!
Orchard O 5
Baltimore O 2
House Finch 6
Am Goldfinch 14
House Sparrow 10
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