Steve,
Many thanks for your reply & excellent news for those of us in the area
that enjoy birding at the site! I was afraid it had closed altogether, so
thank you for confirming that this is not the case. Looking forward to
getting back out there soon on a Sunday to see what waterfowl may have
arrived, and the White Ibis are always great to see as well.
Rob Bielawski
Virginia Beach, VA
On Wed, Dec 23, 2015 at 11:13 AM, Living, Stephen (DGIF) <
Stephen.Living@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Rob et. al.,
My apologies for the confusion caused by the signage. These signs were
placed to address other non-waterfowl hunting activity at these tracts. The
wording of the signs is overly general and does not specify that the area
is open for wildlife viewing on Sundays. We will address these signs early
next week. In the interim I will coordinate with DGIF law enforcement and
clarify that birding IS allowed on Sundays.
Ron you are correct that hunts on the Whitehurst and Beasly tracts occur
only on Saturdays. The area remains closed from Mon-Friday to allow an
undisturbed resting area for waterfowl during the week.
In regards to the water levels I am happy to report that we pumped
extensively through October and into November and the impoundments have
been well flooded since. We continue to monitor and will pump
supplementally to maintain optimal water levels. This system is managed in
a moist-soil regime. This method of impoundment management promotes a
variety of beneficial native plants (such as Walter's millet, smartweed and
beggars ticks) that provide long lasting seeds and promote good populations
of invertebrates as a food source for waterfowl and other wildlife. The
flooded impoundments remain vegetated and may have the appearance of not
being flooded, but in reality have 12-16" of water. I can attest to the
water levels here - having walked the impoundments in knee boots to assess
the conditions when they were initially flooded and periodically inspecting
them since. The warm weather has resulted in relatively few waterfowl using
the area until recently when we began to see good numbers. There have been
good numbers of other waterbirds using the area including large numbers of
white ibis.
My apologies for any confusion related to the signs.
Steve
Stephen Living │Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries │Region 1
Land & Facilities Manager│3801 John Tyler Memorial Hwy, Charles City VA
23030│stephen.living@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Message: 1
Date: Mon, 21 Dec 2015 08:51:58 -0500
From: Rob Bielawski <robbielawski@xxxxxxxxx>
To: VA-Bird List <va-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [Va-bird] Virginia Beach - Princess Anne WMA Whitehurst Tract
Closed?
Message-ID:
<CAE1OWgDo0MqS=
Lv5_-o1D+GtVwHyGGA6A0qFkqggKjGuGO1FHA@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8
Fellow Birders,
Yesterday after a nice trip to Back Bay NWR I headed over to my typical
Sunday spot, Princess Anne WMA Whitehurst Tract. From May through August
the park is open 7 days a week for wildlife viewing, and from September
through April it is closed Monday-Saturdays for hunting, open only on
Sundays to birders (ref:
http://www.dgif.virginia.gov/wmas/detail.asp?pid=8
).
When I arrived at the park yesterday, a sign was placed at the first
parking area on Munden Road, reading "This Management area is CLOSED except
for Quota waterfowl hunts".
Researching a bit yesterday evening after I'd arrived home, I found this
quota hunt page (http://www.dgif.virginia.gov/hunting/quotahunts/) that
shows the hunts occurring only on Saturdays.
My primary question is, are there any individuals on this listserve who
work for VDGIF or the WMA's and might be able to verify that the sign was
just left up accidentally into Sunday? For those of us wishing to bird the
area on Sundays, just seeing the sign still posted is enough to make us
leave, so if it is placed in error, that is a bit frustrating to folks who
are law-abiding.
My second question, have the impoundments now been flooded? Typically by
September there is full water for migrating waterfowl to land in, but as of
two weekends ago, the only water was still just rainfall that had collected
in the perimeter ditches surrounding each impoundment.
Any info would be welcome, thanks!
Rob Bielawski
Virginia Beach, VA
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