I am sure that most birders in the Hampton Roads Area have been to or
know about Hog Island WMA, but I am not sure how many have birded the
Carlisle Tract of this WMA. Until Saturday (May 26) I had only been
familiar with the Hog Island Tract, which is the area that you enter after
passing through the Surry Nuclear Power Plant. The Hog Island Tract is an
incredible place to bird, but since it is sometimes closed to the public the
Carlisle Tract provides a good alternative. I found that the best way to
access it was by parking by the boat ramp at the end of Landing Road (take a
right off of Hog Island Road) and walking along Landing Road. There is very
little traffic on this road, the only cars who passed me were a couple
boaters trailering their boats.
The habitat at this location is different from that of the Hog Island
Tract, as it consists mainly of upland woodlands interspersed with brushy
fields along the power line right-of-ways. This is great habitat for the
indigo buntings, blue grosbeaks, and prairie warblers who were very
conspicuous during the couple of hours which I spent along the road. Aside
from numerous great views of the aforementioned species, I also finally
spotted a wood thrush singing from a tree stump and I disturbed a female
northern harrier from her perch by one of the fields where she was probably
mousing. Also, at the end of the road by the boat ramp there is an
extensive marshland habitat along Lawnes Creek, where the usual marsh birds
as well as numerous bald eagles may be observed. I just thought that I
would let other birders know about this location if they did not already, if
you visit the Carlisle Tract feel free to let me know how you do. A list of
the birds I saw is below, thanks.
Nick Flanders.
Newport News.
Location: Hog Island
Observation date: 5/26/07
Number of species: 26
Double-crested Cormorant 1
Great Blue Heron 4
Turkey Vulture 11
Osprey 3
Bald Eagle 4
Northern Harrier 1
Red-tailed Hawk 1
Ruby-throated Hummingbird 1
Belted Kingfisher 1
Acadian Flycatcher 1
Red-eyed Vireo 7
American Crow 3
Carolina Chickadee 6
Tufted Titmouse 1
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 6
Wood Thrush 1
Pine Warbler 2
Prairie Warbler 2
Common Yellowthroat 1
Summer Tanager 4
Scarlet Tanager 1
Northern Cardinal 1
Blue Grosbeak 5
Indigo Bunting 10
Red-winged Blackbird 3
American Goldfinch 5
This report was generated automatically by eBird v2(http://ebird.org)
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