A few updates to yesterday's posting. American Golden-Plovers have arrived
in numbers now: 15 were on the Bayside this morning (seen 8:00-9:00 or so),
and 34 on the Seaside yesterday evening (found by Jethro Runco). This
morning's birds were looked over carefully for Pacific Golden-Plover; not
surprisingly, none was found. Also present have been up to 2 Stilt Sandpipers
on the
Bayside (yesterday morning and midday), a Baird's Sandpiper on the Bayside
(midday), and 60-80 White-rumped Sandpipers (Bayside). Buff-breasted
Sandpipers
have not been seen for two days or so; Hudsonian Godwits were last seen Monday.
We expect heavy rain tonight and tomorrow, but it could miss us.
Nevertheless, this would be good to refresh the now-drying farm fields.
Jethro reports that the Visitor Center at the Eastern Shore of Virginia NWR
has a large wet area in what used to be the pond, with many yellowlegs. This
could be worth checking.
A very large flight of thrushes (mostly Wood Thrushes; about 310 or so of
these) between 0400 and 0530 this morning was the best I've had in early
September: the easterly winds blew about 10 knots most of the night before
turning
southeasterly here this morning around 0830 or so. Bobolinks at Sunset Beach
this morning numbered in the many hundreds; all swallow species were seen, with
Cliff, Bank, and Northern Rough-winged in the minority. Harry Armistead was
there, taking counts of all species noted, and he'll certainly post the
information to this listserv in days to come.
Ned Brinkley
Cape Charles, VA
