[va-richmond-general] Purple Martians RAS bird-a-thon report (long)
- From: akb <arun1bose@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: Richmond Audubon Society mailing list <va-richmond-general@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sun, 4 May 2014 18:20:21 -0400
The RVA Purple Martians (Ellison Orcutt and myself) participated in
Richmond Audubon's annual bird-a-thon this past Friday/Saturday. We began
our 24 hour period at 3:30 pm on May 2 and concluded at 3:30 pm on May 3.
In all we spent about 20 hours in the field.
Our starting point was the Mainland Farm area to look for the reported
WHITE-FACED IBIS. We found a decent variety of shorebirds in the wet fields
including, SEMIPALMATED PLOVER, KILLDEER, SPOTTED SANDPIPER, SOLITARY
SANDPIPER, GREATER YELLOWLEGS, LESSER YELLOWLEGS, LEAST SANDPIPER, and a
single WHITE-RUMPED SANDPIPER. BOBOLINKs were also frequenting the pasture
across the road. Initially we were unable to locate any Ibis, and as we
were about to move on Brian Taber pulled up and then showed us where the
Ibis were hanging out just up the road. Thanks to Brian we were able to see
WHITE-FACED and GLOSSY IBIS.
Next up was Pleasure House Point in Virginia Beach. With daylight fading we
made quick work of scanning the flats and marsh. Here we found a good
selection of wading birds, gulls and terns, plus a couple of additional
shorebirds, including GREAT BLUE HERON, GREAT EGRET, SNOWY EGRET,
TRICOLORED HERON, GREEN HERON, YELLOW-CROWNED NIGHT-HERON, BONAPARTE'S
GULL, LAUGHING GULL, RING-BILLED GULL, HERRING GULL (AMERICAN), LESSER
BLACK-BACKED GULL, GREAT BLACK-BACKED GULL, LEAST TERN, CASPIAN TERN,
FORSTER'S TERN, ROYAL TERN, and SANDWICH TERN. We also found WILLET,
BLACK-BELLIED PLOVER, RED-BREASTED MERGANSER, MARSH WREN and SEASIDE
SPARROW which were good adds.
A quick scan of the bay off Lynnhaven was disappointing, but a group of
PURPLE MARTINs adjacent to the fishing pier were good to see.
We returned to Richmond via Sussex Co. and eastern Henrico but only added 3
species; BARRED OWL, CHUCK-WILL'S-WIDOW, EASTERN WHIP-POOR-WILL in Sussex
Co.
The next morning began pre-dawn in the City of Richmond looking for rails
on east 4th St. It was not productive with the roar of semi trucks coming
and going from I-95 making for challenging conditions. A SOLITARY SANDPIPER
and SWAMP SPARROW were our best finds here. A look in at the floodwall
didn't produce much either.
Next up was 42nd St. which was quite good as summarized in a previous post.
By now it was late-morning and the clock was ticking. We made a dash out to
Short Pump in western Henrico Co. to see the MISSISSIPPI KITES which have
returned to the same neighborhood as last year.
From here we high-tailed it to Swift Creek Reservoir in Chesterfield Co.
This produced the most surprising finds of the day. Expecting only to find
a late RUDDY DUCK or two, we also found 7 LESSER SCAUP, 2 COMMON LOON, 2
HORNED GREBE, and 1 RED-NECKED GREBE.
With a couple of hours remaining we headed east of Richmond to Malvern Hill
NBP, and then on to Charles City Co. We were able to add some crucial birds
for the list, including LOUISIANA WATERTHRUSH, PALM WARBLER,
YELLOW-THROATED WARBLER, YELLOW-THROATED VIREO, BLUE GROSBEAK, GRASSHOPPER
SPARROW, YELLOW-BREASTED CHAT, BANK SWALLOW, and our last bird NORTHERN
BOBWHITE.
In all we both observed 149 species + Empidonax sp. Not too bad really.
eBird lists are below and a link to support the RAS Bird-a-thon if you are
interested.
http://www.richmondaudubon.org/birdathon/BirdathonTeams.html
Mainland Farm area
http://ebird.org/ebird/va/view/checklist?subID=S18205469
Pleasure House Point, Virginia Beach
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S18220270
Rte. 604, Sussex Co.
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S18220265
James River Park - Main Section, Richmond City
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S18194540
Swift Creek Reservoir, Chesterfield Co.
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S18220257
Full Purple Martians Bird-a-thon list
http://ebird.org/ebird/va/view/checklist?subID=S1820364
Arun Bose
Ellison Orcutt
Richmond
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