Motivated by Ned Brinkley's email, Bob Anderson and
I went to the Harbormaster's building on Fort Story in Virginia Beach this
morning arriving about 9 am, a somewhat late start but the icy conditions
slowed
things down a bit. We weren't disappointed. Within five minutes the
first Razorbill flew by not terribly far offshore, affording a nice view in the
bright sun. During about an hour and a half of viewing from the comfort of
the car we counted 18 Razorbills, all flying by from west to east, reasonably
close to shore. One dropped into the water just outside the surf in front
of us, but the waves were so huge that we never saw the bird again.
We went onto the Chesapeake Bay Bridge and Tunnel
to explore the possibility that some alcids might be sitting on the water near
the rock islands. However, there were no alcids to be found, just the tens
of thousands of scoters of all three species. The scoters were being swept
out to sea and flying back into to the bay to repeat the cycle over and
over. Lesser Scaup, Red-breasted Mergansers, and a few Long-tailed Ducks
and Buffleheads were in among the scoters. Two Harbor Seals were
swimming around the north end of island three. We did see five (or six?)
young male Common Eiders in amongst the scoters off island four. It was
hard to keep track of them in the scope as they kept disappearing behind waves
and scoters.
--- Robert Ake
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