Howdy all,
I really don't have much more to post that Ned Brinkley has not already
mentioned. What we found mirrored his reports. But since it was a super nice
day
here, forgive me for regurgitating the report!
I picked up Andrew Odell about 2 pm and we headed out to hit the flooded
fields and then headed to the flooded town of Cape Charles. Finished up around
6:30pm. Ned was not kidding when he talks about people kayaking their way
around
town. The west side of town is completely flooded. Seems everyone has
beachfront property right now!
Most of the side roads were passable by small car but some where not. I would
assume that a high clearance vehicle could have made it through MOST spots.
I stopped by the banding station to assess the damage. Yea, pretty ugly
there. But I got everything back up and hopeful of running tomorrow. A few
trees
down there.
Here's our quick list.
Tri-colored Heron 3
White Ibis 2 in flooded field at the entrance of
Kiptopeke S.P.
Glossy Ibis 1 same place
Black-bellied Plover 100+
Semi Plover many
American Oystercatcher 4 two places
Lesser Yellowlegs 50+
Solitary Sandpiper 1 in the flooded grass at the butterfly
gardens at Kiptopeke
Spotted Sandpiper 3 several locations including on the road
(Seaside)
Whimbrel 1 field on Seaside
Ruddy Turnstone 5 Cape Charles
Sanderling 1 Kiptopeke
Semi/Western Sandpipers many
Least Sandpiper many
Pectoral Sandpiper 25+ several locations
Buff-breasted Sandpiper 7 on Arlington and VERY close to the road
Dowitchers 35+ Assumed Short-billed but didn't
spend the time
Lots of Gulls
Gull-billed Tern 6 on Arlington
Caspian Tern 5 in Seaside
Royal Tern 30+ several spots
Sandwich Tern 15 Cape Charles
Common Tern 1000 Ned is right!
Forster's Tern 100's
Least Tern 7 Cape Charles
Black Tern 13 three different locations
Bridled Tern 1 on Townsend Road heading towards
Kiptopeke
Arctic Tern 1 Cape Charles
Black Skimmers 18 three locations
Barn Swallow 1000's everywhere!
Veery 5+ Kiptopeke
Summer Tanager 2 Kiptopeke
Northern Waterthrush 4 Kiptopeke
Yellow Warbler 2 Cape Charles
Common Yellowthroat 6 Kiptopeke
Seaside Sparrow 2 hatch year birds at Cape Charles
We couldn't find the American Golden Plover, Stilt Sandpiper, or the Upland
Sandpiper that Ned has posted, but give what we did get, I am not going to
complain!
Last night I saw a flock of 80 + White Ibis near the boat ramp pond on the
Eastern Shore of VA NWR. And had very large flights of Eastern Kingbirds again,
this time several hundred.
Tomorrow might be a good day that the banding station IF the winds let up.
There were definite migrants around today!
Cheers,
Jethro Runco
