VA Birders,
Happily, the rain that washed out most of the planned activities for the
Eastern Shore of Virginia Birding Festival this past Saturday--especially
Saturday afternoon--subsided to nothing more than an occasional drizzle or
sprinkle on Sunday. I spent Sunday afternoon, Oct. 9, birding in Northampton
Co.
after the festival ended. First I checked out a report of Common Moorhens on
one
of the private farms open to festival participants. I found 2 Common
Moorhens there, which appeared to me to be winter adults. On the same pond, I
found
2 Pied-billed Grebes, and 2 other birds which appeared to be sleeping in the
middle of the pond, between the grebes and the moorhens. I thought they may
have been the 2 immature moorhens reported on earlier festival trips to the
area, but I couldn't see them well enough to be sure.
Then, around 5:00 pm, I drove across Capeville Road (just south of
StingRays) from Rt. 13 to Rt. 600 (Seaside Road). I turned right on Rt. 600
and
headed south, to see if I could find any Eurasian Collared-Doves there. I was
not disappointed. I found 2 collared-doves on the wires near the Townsend Post
Office, which is north of Townsend Road, another cross street between Rts. 13
and 600, and another bird on the cross beam of a telephone pole at the corner
of Rt. 13 and Magotha Road. A second bird, possibly another collared-dove,
flew off as I approached, so I may have had a total of 4 Eurasian
Collared-Doves.
One final note which may be of interest. The CBBT islands were opened
for 3 officially scheduled festival trips. Pat Blyer and I went on the first
trip Saturday morning, when we had some wind and light to moderate rain. Our
highlights were a Peregrine Falcon which landed on the rocks at Island #4 (I
think), a Seaside Sparrow, and several Sandwich Terns. The Sunday afternoon
trip
was forced to return early, reportedly because of winds over 60 mph, as well
as heavy rain, on the islands. A Clay-colored Sparrow was found on the Sunday
morning trip, but other birders were not permitted to go and look for it.
Good birding,
Val Kitchens
Arlington, VA
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