Hello, birders.
Sorry for the late post. I've been travelling and
very busy and am now trying to get caught up on stuff.
My friend Jodi and I stayed at a cabin in First
Landing State Park in Va. Beach for part of last week.
Cabins in the Va. state parks are rustic but nice.
They're a great alternative to motels if you don't
mind a lack of certain amenities like TV or phone. We
were tucked amidst the pines with songbirds visiting
us daily.
We started off on the CBBT on the afternoon of Monday,
Feb. 20, joined by Terry Jenkins, Elisa Enders, John
Young & Renee Hudgins. We birded islands, 4, 3 and 2,
in that order. We all had fun at this wonderful
birding spot. We found 3 hours of birding to be worth
the price divided up amongst the 6 of us. Due to some
logistical stuff on our part we had to skip island 1
but Jodi and I went the next day.
We also visited the Eastern Shore of Virginia NWR on
Tuesday at sunset, hoping for woodcock and wading
birds. On Wednesday we checked out parts of Jericho
and Washington Ditches at Great Dismal Swamp NWR, as
well as the Visitor Center area. On Thursday we
birded part of Back Bay NWR. We went on a whale watch
on Friday - my first one. We had 1 or 2 spouting
Humpbackeds. It was neat to see birds of the
seashore, as well as birds like GRAY CATBIRD and BROWN
THRASHER, which are scarce here in the wintertime here
in No. Va. We both had fun and Jodi had several
lifers.
Best birds:
Brant
Green-winged Teal (CBBT)
Harlequin Duck
Com. Goldeneye
Great Cormorant
American Bittern
Purple Sandpiper
Lesser Black-backed Gull
Forster's Tern
Sedge Wren
American Pipit
Orange-crowned Warbler
Rusty Blackbird
For more detail, see below:
CBBT: We saw 3 female and 1 male HARLEQUIN DUCK
resting on rocks on Island 4. Several PURPLE
SANDPIPER were present, can't remember which island(s)
as I don't have my notes with me. Also several GREAT
CORMORANT hanging out on a couple of islands (2 and
4?) with one flyby. Some were with DOUBLE-CRESTEDS
for a nice comparison. At least 2 GREATS were showing
breeding plumage - handsome.
Lots of waterfowl near the islands besides the
Harlequins - SCAUP SP. (Greater?), SURF and BLACK
SCOTERS, LONG-TAILED DUCK, BUFFLEHEAD, RED-BREASTED
MERGS, BRANT, a couple of female COM. GOLDENEYE and,
surprisingly, 1 out of habitat female GREEN-WINGED
TEAL off of the SW end of island 4. Maybe some other
stuff that I'm forgetting. Lots of NORTHERN GANNETS,
not many gulls. It was cool to listen to the strange
call of the male Black Scoters. And the weather was
fine, hardly any wind!
ESVNWR - approx. 60 BLACK VULTURES roosting on a big
tower near the Ramp Road pond at sunset. A local
retired couple said that they roost there every night.
A few more vultures were just outside the refuge.
We missed wading birds and woodcock but were treated
to the sounds of a GREAT HORNED OWL hooting far away,
and as it was getting pretty dark, flocks of SNOW and
CANADA GOOSE calling over our heads. We couldn't see
the Canadas but we heard some of them touch down with
a splash in the nearby Ramp Road pond.
DISMAL SWAMP - We really enjoyed birding here, lots of
stuff to see and hear. Tons of AMERICAN ROBINS, RUSTY
BLACKBIRDS were common, mixed in with the Robins. I'm
still not very familiar with their call and song - I
need to go to the Cornell Lab website for that one.
Sparrows, woodpeckers, etc. were active. My first
ever SWAMP SPARROW in actual swamp habitat. Our best
bird on the refuge was a briefly seen male
ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER along Jericho Ditch Road. This
bird was not on the checklist for the refuge, which I
find interesting. The fields near the refuge held
lots of Robins and Blackbirds - COM. GRACKLE,
RED-WING, COWBIRD. We hoped for a Brewer's but didn't
see any. We accidentally scared up a flock of a few
dozen AMERICAN PIPITS when we exited the car at the
beginning of Jericho Ditch Road. I thought they
landed nearby but we couldn't relocate them.
Back Bay NWR was nice, with a couple of SEDGE WRENS
(good look at one), 10 LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULLS of
various ages and a FORSTER'S TERN. Great look at an
AMERICAN BITTERN in a ditch along the refuge entrance
road. It was stalking prey and paid no attention to
us or our car.
First Landing is a beautiful park. We found it to be
birdy - in the woods, along the creek and the bay.
Hundreds of NORTHERN GANNETS in between the shore and
island 1 of the CBBT on Tuesday, we saw the same flock
from island 1 later in the day. Large flock of
RED-BREASTED MERGS, mostly male, on the water. Here,
too, were large numbers of AMERICAN ROBINS. Other
songbirds included PINE WARBLER and BROWN-HEADED
NUTHATCH.
Happy birding,
Scott Baron
Fairfax, Va.
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