Postponing this walk from last (gray, rainy, cold, miserable) Saturday to today
turned out to be an excellent decision, an opinion apparently shared by
THIRTY-ONE birders, all apparently ready to shake off our extended winter and
get outdoors in the beautiful spring sunshine at Dutch Gap today.
Our initial stop at the first observation platform turned up the usual suspects
for this time of year, dominated by Red-winged Blackbirds, with Eastern
Meadowlarks singing accompaniment from the hillside behind us. We had Osprey
flyovers, as well as visits from Killdeer. We got one flyby by a Wood Duck, and
one by a Mallard already molting into eclipse plumage. There were a few Coots
still hanging around, as well as a single Blue-winged Teal, associating with
the coots, which a couple of lucky birders got looks at before it disappeared
into the vegetation.
On the walk out to the river overlook, we kicked into Breeding Bird Atlas mode,
finding Brown Thrashers in the visitor center parking lot gathering nesting
material, a pair of Blue-gray Gnatcatchers working on a nest, and a
Red-shouldered Hawk making multiple trips across the marsh with nesting
materials. Migrant warblers are beginning the filter through. After hearing
singing Yellow-throated Warblers for forty-five minutes or so, we finally
tracked one down near the fishing pier. We also saw or heard White-eyed Vireo,
Common Yellowthroat, and Prairie Warbler on this section of the trip.
On the trails behind the Visitor’s Center, by far the most common warbler was
Yellow-rumped, but following that, we had good looks at any number of Palm
Warblers. Tree Swallows and Bluebirds were picking out their nest boxes, and we
finally heard (and got one brief look at) a Prothonotary Warbler down Sycamore
Spur trail. Prairie Warblers and Northern Paroles were singing down that way as
well. We hit a low, low tide today, and found three Greater Yellowlegs in the
mud down that trail as well. Perhaps the highlight of the day was a Killdeer
that chivvied three downy chicks across the trail and out onto the mudflats in
front of us at Twin Rock Spur. There was a lot of action on the trail itself;
at one point, we were scoping four Palm Warblers, one Yellow-throated Warbler,
two Yellow-rumped Warblers, a Pine Warbler, and a lingering Hermit Thrush in
one view.
We totaled 54 species - the complete list:
American Coot 1
American Goldfinch 3
American Robin 3
Bald Eagle 1
Black Vulture 4
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 9
Blue-winged Teal 1
Brown Thrasher 7
Brown-headed Cowbird 35
Canada Goose 32
Carolina Chickadee 3
Carolina Wren 3
Chipping Sparrow 5
Common Grackle 3
Common Yellowthroat 5
Dark-eyed Junco 1
Double-crested Cormorant 10
Downy Woodpecker 2
Eastern Bluebird 1
Eastern Meadowlark 6
Eastern Phoebe 1
European Starling 2
Fish Crow 4
Great Blue Heron 6
Great Egret 1
Greater Yellowlegs 3
Hermit Thrush 1
Killdeer 9
Laughing Gull 75
Mallard 1
Mourning Dove 2
Northern Cardinal 6
Northern Mockingbird 3
Northern Parula 1
Northern Rough-winged Swallow 1
Osprey 3
Palm Warbler 6
Pine Warbler 1
Prairie Warbler 2
Prothonotary Warbler 1
Red-bellied Woodpecker 1
Red-shouldered Hawk 1
Red-winged Blackbird 100
Ring-billed Gull 10
Ruby-crowned Kinglet 4
Savannah Sparrow 3
Tree Swallow 7
Tufted Titmouse 4
Turkey Vulture 3
White-eyed Vireo 1
White-throated Sparrow 9
Wood Duck 1
Yellow-rumped Warbler 20
Yellow-throated Warbler 4
—
Lewis Barnett
blbarnett3@xxxxxxxxx
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