Exploring areas in northern Gloucester County on Sunday, April 1, produced some
interesting birds.
On the Piankatank River at the end of Route 606, there's a boat landing called
Deep Point. While we couldn't locate any ducks, we saw several gulls and terns
in the distance. We were lucky that some of the birds flew close by so we were
able to clearly see the large yellow-orange bill of a ROYAL TERN and the black
heads of LAUGHING GULLS. We also observed two BARN SWALLOWS and four OSPREYS
flying over the water.
More than a dozen EASTERN BLUEBIRDS were seen on our way to the boat landing.
This part of Gloucester County is very close to Mathews County, which is known
for its abundance of these beautiful birds.
Earlier in the day (8:30-11:30) we had explored the North end of Beaverdam
Park. We encountered 3 WILD TURKEYS on Fary's Mill Rd as we approached the
entrance to the park from Rt. 17. A complete list of birds from that end of the
park follows.
Highlights were our first of season PALM WARBLER along with dozens of
YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLERS. Five species of SPARROWS were seen: SAVANNAH, FIELD,
CHIPPING, WHITE-THROATED and SONG. At first I thought my ears were deceiving me
when I heard the FIELD SPARROW - until we turned and saw him singing on an open
branch.
We love birding this time of year. You just never know what will turn up!
Meredith Bell
Hayes, VA (Gloucester County)
Location: Beaverdam Park - North
Observation date: 4/1/07
Notes: Overcast skies, temps in mid-50s
Number of species: 46
Canada Goose 15
Mute Swan 5
Mallard 9
Wild Turkey 3
Pied-billed Grebe 1
Great Blue Heron 4
Great Egret 2
Black Vulture 1
Turkey Vulture 6
Osprey 2
Red-shouldered Hawk 1
Red-tailed Hawk 1
American Coot 4
Laughing Gull 114
Ring-billed Gull 8
Mourning Dove 9
Belted Kingfisher 2
Red-bellied Woodpecker 2
Downy Woodpecker 3
Northern Flicker 2
Pileated Woodpecker 1
Eastern Phoebe 4
American Crow 4
Fish Crow 2
Tree Swallow 4
Carolina Chickadee 5
Tufted Titmouse 3
Carolina Wren 4
Winter Wren 2
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 7
Eastern Bluebird 6
Brown Thrasher 3
Yellow-rumped Warbler 48
Yellow-throated Warbler 2
Pine Warbler 4
Palm Warbler 1
Eastern Towhee 1
Chipping Sparrow 8
Field Sparrow 1
Savannah Sparrow 1
Song Sparrow 1
White-throated Sparrow 10
Northern Cardinal 6
Red-winged Blackbird 6
Brown-headed Cowbird 5
American Goldfinch 2
This report was generated automatically by eBird v2 (http://www.ebird.org)
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