Frigatebird and White Pelican at Chincoteague Refuge

Geoff Graff (ggraff@erols.com)
Mon, 05 Oct 1998 00:21:06 -0400


Ospreyers,


    Went to Chincoteague NWR on Sat. Oct 3, at 7:00am, I park my truck 
south of Lot #3 on oceanside and walk about 1-2 miles on offroad vehicle 
path and about 20-25 minutes later, an male M. Frigatebird appear 
offshore circled around for about 6 minutes and headed toward south. 
Looks like this bird is now going back to Florida. I had a good look on 
tiny red spot on its throat. An hour later, around 8:22am an adult White 
Pelican seen flying with 3 Brown Pelican offshore and still hanging 
around offshore and sometimes flying back and forth about 1/2 mile 
offshore. Someone also reports this same bird 2-3 days ago on Swan Cove.

Birds seen in refuge area:

M. Frigatebird - 1 male   offshore
Am. White Pelican - 1  offshore
Brown Pelican - 3 (1 ad. & 2 imm.) offshore
Double-crested Cormorant - 77
Great Blue Heron - 11
Great Egret - 47
Snowy Egret - 58
Little Blue Heron - 8  near Rt. 175 bridge
Tricolored Heron - 5   near Rt. 175 bridge
Mute Swan - 3  Swan Cove
Canada Goose - 96
Mallard - 13   Swan Cove
Am. Black Duck - 44    (42 at Swan Cove)
N. Shoveler - 2  Swan Cove
Gadwall - 4  Swan Cove
Turkey Vulture - 1
Osprey - 2
Bald Eagle - 1  ad. near entrance to Chincot. Refuge
N. Harrier - 2
Merlin - 2  migrate over beach
Peregrine Falcon - 1  migrate over beach
Black-bellied Plover - 1  Swan Cove
Semipalmated Plover - 14  Swan Cove
Am. Oystercatcher - 47  at stakes area off Rt. 175 bridge, low tide 10am
Am. Avocet - 9   Swan Cove
Greater Yellowleg - 11   9 at Swan Cove and 2 at Rt. 175 bridge
Lesser Yellowleg - 1   Swan Cove
Solitary Sandpiper - 1  Swan Cove
Ruddy Turnstone - 3  Swan Cove
Semipalmated Sandpiper - 62   50 at Swan Cove and 12 at Tom's Cove
Western Sandpiper - 18   Swan Cove
Least Sandpiper - 44    33 at Swan Cove and 11 at Rt. 175 bridge
White-rumped Sandpiper - 2    Swan Cove
Baird's Sandpiper - 1   Swan Cove
Dunlin - 8   Swan Cove
Curlew Sandpiper - 1  adult at Swan Cove
Short-billed Dowitcher - 11   Swan Cove
Laughing Gull - 227
Ring-billed Gull - 89
Herring Gull - 178
Great Black-backed Gull - 65
Caspian Tern - 4  (3 ad. & 1 imm.)    Swan Cove
Royal Tern - 9   (4 ad. & 5 imm.)    Swan Cove
Common Tern - 7
Forster's Tern - 62
Mourning Dove - 10
Belted Kingfisher - 1
Red-bellied Woodpecker - 1   Woodland Trail area
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker - 1   Woodland Trail area
N. Flicker - 3
Tree Swallow - 52
Bank Swallow - 1   flyby south, south of Lot #3
Barn Swallow - 5
Blue Jay - 4
Am. Crow - 6
Fish Crow - 11
Golden-crowned Kinlet - 2    Woodland Trail area
Ruby-crowned Kinglet - 2   near Woodland Trail
Am. Robin - 85
N. Mockingbird - 3
European Starling - 259
Tennessee Warbler - 1  female near Woodland Trail 
Yellow-rumped Warbler - 7   Woodland Trail area
Pine Warbler - 4       in pine trees near herd of 40+ Wild Ponies
Palm Warbler - 1    east side of Woodland Trail near herd of Ponies
Black-and-white Warbler - 2   Woodland Trail area
Am. Redstart - 1      Woodland Trail area near pond
N. Cardinal - 2
Rose-breasted Grosbeak - 2    a pair, Woodland Trail area
Seaside Sparrow - 6
Song Sparrow - 3
Swamp Sparrow - 7
White-throated Sparrow - 2
Red-winged Blackbird - 50
Boat-tailed Grackle - 69
Common Grackle - 46



          Kevin Graff
          Baltimore, MD
          ggraff@erols.com