This afternoon between 5:30 and 5:55, five adult light-morph Parasitic
Jaegers passed westward through the Chesapeake Channel (between islands 3 and
4), often in pursuit of Common Terns, noted by Meena Haribal, Linda
Clougherty, Gladys Birdsall, Ann Mitchell, Nancy Ruffing, and myself. The
birds were watched for up to 10 minutes at a time; most were heading toward
Willoughby Spit, an area from which few records of this species are known.
It would be interesting to know whether this is a regular route of migration,
or merely a jog into the Bay to weather the heavy northeasterly winds of
today, or maybe even a turn toward the large Common Tern colonies around the
Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel. A full day spent out here under today's
conditions should have netted a Roseate Tern, but we chose to spend it in the
Dismal Swamp (Blackpoll and Black-throated Blue Warblers the only migrants)
and Weyanoke Sanctuary (Blackpoll and Veery).
Also noted here were an imm. male Orchard Oriole (on the jetty, next to an al
ternate-plumaged Spotted Sandpiper and an American Oystercatcher), two Harbor
Seals, a flock of dowitchers (about 25), a small flock of Black Terns (15),
three Gull-billed Terns (not commonly seen at CBBT), 60+ Royal Terns, 90+
Common Terns, 8 Glossy Ibis, 400+ Northern Gannets, 2 Surf Scoters, 10
Red-breasted Mergansers, 2 Great Cormorants, 60+ Purple Sandpipers, 10
Sanderlings, an Ovenbird, 70+ Ruddy Turnstones, 2 Mallards, 6 Rock Doves, a
House Wren, a Yellow-breasted Chat, a Common Yellowthroat, 20 Brown Pelicans,
90+ Double-crested Cormorants, a female Hooded Warbler (on the rocks on South
Thimble Island), and, continuing from yesterday, 3 dead Clapper Rails, a dead
Indigo Bunting, and a dead Seaside Sparrow (R.I.P.). A Marsh Wren was also
present yesterday, along with 2 Forster's Terns and a Least Sandpiper.
Ned Brinkley
Cape Charles, VA
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