Paul,
My database shows only two previous reports of Whimbrel for the District: 18 seen on May 26, 1928 by Ball & Knappen with 1 the next day also seen by Oberholser, an eminent sighting himself. Then 2 were seen on May 26 1935 by Wallace. These sightings were also at Hains Point.
Bob Ringler
Eldersburg MD
----- Original Message -----
From: "Paul Pisano" <>
To:
Sent: Sunday, May 23, 2010 1:35:01 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern
Subject: [MDOSPREY] 25 WHIMBREL over Hains Pt., DC
This morning (Sunday, 5/23) at about 7:20am under overcast but
non-precipitating skies, Frank Hawkins & I saw a flock of 25 WHIMBREL
flying south over the Potomac (and at times over Arlington &
Alexandria). Frank & I were chatting near the Channel side of the
maintenance road near the tip when I spied the birds flying over the
river. Frank had a scope, mine was in the car, but by the time he was
able to get the scope set up, we lost the birds through the trees. So
we ran to my car, drove around to the river side, and grabbed my scope.
When we got to the river we luckily relocated the flock (almost directly
overhead), and were able to get excellent looks at them through our
scopes. Frank estimates the birds were c.500' high, which sounds good
to me (though difficult to assess). They were certainly low enough that
on two occasions we were able to hear them calling. They circled a few
times, seemingly looking for a place to land as they flew over the
airport, but gave up after a few planes took off & landed. Once they
realized there was no place to settle, they flew down river (actually
over Alexandria). The tide was on the high side, so I'm not sure if
they were able to land at the mouth of Hunting Creek (no reports from
the VA List) though it looks like that's where they were heading. I
lost them through the clouds. I'm guessing we watched them for 3-5
minutes.
One bird was c.5-8% larger than the others, but looked like another
American Whimbrel (not Eurasian, though we never confirmed that it was
or was not). Otherwise, to me it's shape (including the bill) looked
the same as the others, so I don't think it was a godwit either.
As a side note, in addition to being a DC bird for me, it was the 200th
bird for my cumulative May in DC list.
Once again Hains Pt. proves productive - the 4th week in a row that a
rarity has been found here.
Good birding,
Paul Pisano
Arlington, VA |