Sorry for the brief, grammatically incorrect message yesterday -- lots of
electrical storms here & not many chances to get on line.
Chincoteague NWR yesterday (2 August) was just marvelous again, with Snow
Goose Pool nice and wet and just full of shorebirds. Key to finding numbers of
shorebirds here is the condition of this area (which has been refreshed by
recent showers) and visiting when tide is very high in surrounding tidal
marshes
and mudflats (during these times, birds pack into the nontidal impoundments).
Five of us, including Paul Pisano and Craig Tumer, visited the refuge
yesterday between 1440 and 1715, visiting just Swan Cove, the Wildlife Drive,
and the
road between them, and noted the following (larger numbers are estimates, but
the Stilt Sandpipers were counted several times):
Pectoral Sandpiper 50 (again, all but 2 on the far side
of the Drive)
Western Sandpiper 70++
Semipalmated/Western Sandpiper 400+ (several dozen Semis at close range,
the
rest not well scrutinized)
Least Sandpiper 50+
peep sp. 350+
Semipalmated Plover 250+
Sanderling 30+
Piping Plover 1 juv. (Swan Cove)
Killdeer 2
Black-bellied Plover 6
Western Willet 8 (Swan Cove, mostly, and nearby
marshes)
Whimbrel (the old "Hudsonian Curlew") 14
Eurasian Whimbrel 1 (nicely seen in flight with Willet
and Whimbrel)
Short-billed Dowitcher 250++
Stilt Sandpiper 319+
distant large sandpipers (dowitcher/stilt) 200+
Lesser Yellowlegs 200+
Greater Yellowlegs 40+
Solitary Sandpiper 1
Spotted Sandpiper 5
American Oystercatcher 1+ (Chincoteague Causeway)
Black-necked Stilt 1+ (Chincoteague Causeway)
The shorebirding here continues to be the best I've seen it in years, and
surely somewhere in those masses of birds is an undetected basic-plumaged
Curlew
Sandpiper!
This was the first Eurasian Whimbrel I've seen in North America, but it is a
form that turns up annually in eastern North America, and it has been recorded
four times previously in Virginia:
1) One bird near Mockhorn Island, 12 September 1981 (Hans Gabler)
2) One bird at Hog Island 17 April 1983 (Barry Truitt)
3) One bird at Hog Island 6 July 1984 (Barry Truitt)
4) One bird at Chincoteague NWR 27 April 1991 (Lysle Brinker)
* If anyone knows of other reports of this taxon in Virginia, I'd be
interested to hear.
An afternoon was not sufficient time to look over these birds, by any means,
and we didn't manage to find a White-rumped Sandpiper, surprisingly (though we
did locate coffee milkshakes at The Island Creamery on Maddox Blvd...). Last
weekend, Lois and Mitchell Byrd found an adult female Red-necked Phalarope in
good plumage here at Chincoteague, and there is surely much turn-over here of
the less-common species. I'm surprised by the lack of reports of Wilson's
Phalarope and Curlew Sandpiper this season, but there is still time. A few
Long-billed Dowitchers are no doubt already in. Many terns were also present
yesterday, with large numbers of Common, Least, Royal, and Forster's Terns
loafing
on the flats on Swan Cove, plus a Black and three Sandwich Terns in Swan
Cove. Three of four Bald Eagles were around, often flushing the shorebirds.
In lower Northampton County, heavy rains this week and weekend have flooded
fields everywhere, especially just north of Cheriton and around Birdnest, south
of Weirwood Station. Haven't had time to check any of these as yet. Five
Gull-billed Terns were catching insects over farm fields around Seaview, VA
yesterday, and a Caspian Tern was at BayCreek Golf Course that morning; at
least
two had been present here since Wednesday, according to Tom Saunders, who also
found an Upland Sandpiper here on Friday 1 August and numbers of Solitary
Sandpipers (5), Pectoral Sandpipers (9+), Lesser Yellowlegs (14), and Greater
Yellowlegs (2+) on the course. On Seaview Road, small numbers of Least and
Western Sandpipers, Semipalmated Plovers, Short-billed Dowitchers, and Glossy
Ibis
have been present since Thursday in flooded fields at the intersection of
Honeysuckle Lane. This morning, Paul Pisano located two Eurasian
Collared-Doves at
the intersection of Cedar Grove Rd and Seaside Road, the most reliable spot
for the species. Both flew across the highway to the residential area on the
west side of the highway along the entrance road to Kiptopeke State Park, the
second most reliable spot for these birds here.
Ned Brinkley
Cape Charles, VA
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