Eastern Shore Birding Trip, Jan. 22-23
David Bridge (David@simsc.si.edu)
Sun, 24 Jan 99 19:41:56
The sentry, a young woman, at Fort Story Army Station, saluted
smartly, and said "Good morning Sir, have a nice day!", as I
slowed down to enter the gate. Time 6:35am, 40 minutes before
sunrise, so we did! How do they find people that awake and with
a positive attitude? But, that is in the middle of the story.
I signed up for the pelagic trip out of Virginia Beach for Jan. 23.
I planed to leave Great Falls, Va. early the day before, bird my
way down the Eastern Shore, go on the Pelagic trip on Sat. and
return via Chincoteague or Ocean City, the next day.
A good plan, except for the weather.
Jan. 22, I arrived at Sandy Point SP at 8:45am. It is very hard
to count the duck in the Bay, when you can NOT see the ducks *OR*
the Bay. Visibility was maybe 150 feet at best, in dense fog.
(And I could NOT find the Snow Buntings either.) Crossing the Bay
Bridge, east bound, you could not see the north bridge span most of
the time. Visibility improve somewhat by the time I reach Cambridge,
and it was actually sunny in Accomack Co., VA, but Northampton Co. was
fogged in all the way to the Chesapeake Bay-Bridge Tunnel (CBBT).
On CBBT #4, I happen to met another birder, Eric Decker from Salisbury,
who informed me that the pelagic trip had been canceled for both days,
due to the expected very bad weather. We had dinner and agreed to join
forces for birding the next day.
Jan. 23. The Weather Channel predicted good weather for the whole
eastern shore, without any rain until evening (which proved true -
one for the weatherman this time). Temp. was 62 to 68 degrees, nice
for January! Eric and I started at Fort Story, Cape Henry, VA. and
then worked our way north stopping on the CBBT islands, Eastern Shore
NWR, Kiptopeke SP, and Deal Island WMA, in MD.
My total species for two days was 91, I made very little attempt
to cover "song birds", which is reflected in the list: Robin was
not found the first day, Blue Jay was missing the second day, and
no woodpeckers at all, or Titmouse nor White-thd. Sparrows for
the two days. However, several good birds were seen.
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Highlights include:
Jan. 22. Cambridge, MD. Among the hundreds of Canvasbacks in the
Choptank River, I saw the mostly-albino male Canvasback. I think
I have seen him there for the past 3 or 4 years, and people that
I have meet there say that he had been wintering there for several
additional years before I saw him. I had not heard of him being
sighted again this year.
Wild Turkey. Jan. 22, 3:50pm perhaps because of the dense fog the
Turkeys were out feeding in a field adjacent to RT 13, about 2.7 miles
north of the stop light at Cheriton, Va.
Common Black-headed Gull. Jan. 22. CBBT Island #3.
One first winter bird roosting with the Ring-billed Gulls at
about 5:25pm (after sunset). Observed from above, no more than
20 feet away. Feet and legs reddish, bill two-thirds of the base
also reddish-orange, tip dark, brownish(?). Underwings not observed.
Hundreds of Bonaparte’s Gulls seen that day and on the 23rd all had
black bills, and flesh colored legs and feet.
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Saturday Jan. 23. Fort Story/Cape Henry. We stationed ourselves
on the bluff near the Harbor Master’s Building (704).
Lesser Black-backed Gull. Eric found the gull standing on the
beach below us. It passed us several times during the hour we
were there, allowing us to re-identify it each time. Adult bird,
yellowish legs, flew next to a GBb Gull, and rested next to one
also for a good comparison.
Am. White Pelican. One flying about 50 yards out from shore,
first seen in the east, and come on at a steady height and
distance out from the shore, right pass us, and on towards the
west and Lynnhaven inlet. Adult bird, bill yellow-orange;
no dark feather in the wing coverts or on the head.
Common Tern - one in with the many Foster’s Terns feeding along
the shore line.
Saturday Jan. 23. CBBT Island #3
There were a large number of birders (12?) on Island 3 and/or 4.
Several birders reported seen one or more Little Gulls, at least one
first year and one adult. Finally after looking over more than a
thousand Bonaparte’s Gulls we saw (and most of the group) saw one
adult fly by just north of Island #3.
Little Gull - one adult; solid gray wings above, and dark below.
Oldsquaw - one
White-winged Scoter - one female (brownish bird)
Saturday Jan. 23. CBBT Island #4
Great Cormorant - seven on the rocks, "south point"
Only ones seen on the trip.
Saturday Jan. 23. Kiptopeke State Park.
Red-necked Grebe - one seen along the sunken ships forming the
breakwater. A long way out, but clearly identifiable. Helps to
know that that it had been seen there on 12/18 and 1/17.
Peregrine Falcon - one struck a Rock Dove at the north end of the
sunken ships, the dove was injured and went into the water.
Two adult Great Black-back Gulls "decided" that they would have
dove for lunch. The Peregrine hit both of the gulls one after
another, at which point the gulls "decided" that they had other
business to attend to. The Falcon hit the Rock Dove twice again,
before the Dove managed to get aboard one of the ships.
Saturday Jan. 23. Deal Island WMA, MD.
American Bittern - 1
Tricolored Heron - 9
Great Egret - 5
Glossy Ibis, one flock of about 20.
General observations on "water birds" at the mouth of the Bay.
No Red-thd. Loons, nor Horned Grebes were found by us.
No eiders, or Harlequin Ducks. Less than a hundred Surf Scoters
and less than 20 Black Scoters, total from all locations. Plus
one Oldsquaw and one W-w. Scoter noted above. These numbers all
seen VERY low to me.
No Black-tailed Gull was reported by anyone that I talked to
on Jan. 22 or 23 (as of 11:00am).
Bonaparte’s Gulls. The numbers of Bonaparte’s was truly outstanding.
There were feeding flock of 400 to 600 birds everywhere. And from
several locations you could see 5, 6, even 8 of these flocks at one
time. Some so far out on the horizon that it was just a solid white
"line", which could have been snow geese, white pelicans, or swans,
if you did not know that they were Bonaparte’s. I would be happy
with an conservative estimate of 4,000. If someone said a higher
number, I could probably accept that, also.
A good trip, good birds, and good company.
(660 miles is too much driving for 2 days!)
yours, David Bridge
Great Falls, VA