Shorebirds at Hunting Creek, VA

KurtCapt87@aol.com
Mon, 28 Sep 1998 13:39:30 EDT


On the Hunting Creek mudflats today, 28 Sept (just south of the beltway and
Alexandria, VA on GW parkway) at about 0930 - low tide - in addition to the
usual cormorants, herons, egrets, lots o' duck and the 4 gulls...

Osprey - 1
Killdeer - 33
Greater Yellowlegs - 7
Lesser Yellowlegs - 31
Semipalmated Sandpiper - 9
Least Sandpiper - 2
Pectoral Sandpiper - 32
Short-billed Dowitcher - 2
Caspian Tern - 15+ (incomplete count)
Forster's Tern - 89+ (incomplete count)

north of the Wilson Bridge:  33 Pied-billed Grebes.  No shorebirds noted on
the mats.

The reduced peep numbers indicate that the bulk of these species have just
about completed migration.  Pectoral numbers are up - still being shook-out up
north?  The trend in Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs numbers appear to be down
and steady, respectively, though additional survey weeks are required to be
certain.  Forster's Tern numbers are approx. constant with respect to last
week, unclear about the Caspian trend at this time.

Kurt Gaskill