Chincoteague Red-throated Loon flight
Mark S. Garland (markgarl@erols.com)
Sun, 21 Mar 1999 18:06:37 -0800
FROG wrote:
>
> D.C. MONASTERY NEEDS BIRD SURVEYORS
>
> The Franciscan Monastery is a 100 year-old community of 23 friars on
> 42 acres in the Brookland neighborhood of Washington, D.C. near
> Catholic University.
>
> The garden staff at the monastery and a newly-established Garden
> Guild are interested in better managing the grounds for wildlife. One
> goal for 1999 is to create a baseline of already-present avifauna and
> other creatures using the property. We are looking for volunteers to
> give us a hand doing a survey--or a periodic series of surveys--this
> year. It will focus on birds.
>
> The monastery grounds feature formal gardens open to the public, but
> also has a three-acre woodlot and 15-acre mowed field behind the
> building complex.
>
> The Garden Guild cannot guarantee, but there is a chance of
> receiving a special blessing from Saint Francis, patron saint of
> ecology, for involvement in this project. What we can guarantee,
> however, is a bouquet of cut roses for each visit.
>
> Please contact Steve McKindley-Ward in Mount Rainier, MD at
> 301-927-1720; Or: steveandmimi@juno.com Thanks!
>
> This has been posted for Steve by Sam Droege, please reply directly to
> Steve. I have been to the monastary grounds myself and they are
> beautiful. They are very interested in increasing the attractiveness
> of the grounds to native birds. They are thinking about converting
> the 15-acre field into a native meadow, which would be wonderful. Not
> only will you get roses, but you can help influence and monitor their
> decisions for improving their back 40 for birds and other wildlife.
> When I was there this winter, a winter wren was pip-piping all
> throughout their grotto areas. Should be very good for migrants.
>
> sam
>
>
> When Nature had made all her birds,
> With no more cares to think on,
> She gave a rippling laugh, and out
> There flew a Bobolinkon.
> -Christopher Pearse Cranch.
>
>
>
I'm fresh back from a weekend at Chincoteague. Saturday 3/20 at about 2
p.m. we were scanning the ocean from near the southernmost parking area
(what used to be called lot #4 when there was still a lot there),
enjoying a few Horned Grebes, Oldsquaws, and a nice Gannet flight when a
group member pointed northeast and said, "what are all those birds up
there?" With a naked-eye glance I saw a bunch of loosely-arranged
birds, something like a mass of gulls that are following a fishing boat,
but these birds were even more loosely arranged. They were heading
south, coming our way. I scoped out and discovered, to my astonishment,
that the birds were Red-throated Loons. As the group came south, some
dropping onto the water while others flew up again, the mass stretched
out for a tremendous distance. I conservatively estimated the mass at
1000 birds minimum. I was astounded!
Nothing else extraordinary at Chincoteague, though many nice things --
tree swallows, phoebes, lots of vocal brown-headed nuthatches, pine
warblers on territory, ipswich sparrows, one each western and least
sandpiper hanging out with 100s of dunlins and sanderlings, and 100s of
gannets close to shore.
Regards,
- Mark Garland