Week Ending August 10, 2014

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After a bummer of a weekend due to overcast and rainy conditions, this week started the exact same way. Fortunately, it only lasted through Monday, and on Tuesday afternoon the sun finally peeked out of the clouds for the first time since last Thursday. After work I ran home and got my stuff together quickly, then headed down to Back Bay. This time of year the shorebirds begin migrating southward from their breeding grounds on the tundra of northern Canada. They can be found in increasingly large numbers along the beaches and coastlines of the East Coast as a result. I walked a couple mile section of the beach at Back Bay NWR from the parking area south towards North Carolina and back for a couple of hours. A couple hundred miles to the east, Tropical Storm Bertha was moving northeastward away from the coast, but the sea swell could be seen hitting the shores of Back Bay. Large, long period waves were moving into shore and it was quite beautiful with the sun shining overhead. The birds must have enjoyed it as well, as tons of them were sitting on the beaches today. I saw the usual gulls (Laughing, Ring-billed, Herring, Great Black-backed & Lesser Black-backed), terns (Royal, Gull-billed), Brown Pelicans, Ospreys, Double-crested Cormorants, and even a Red-breasted Merganser way down the beach line running on the sand. As far as the land-based shorebirds went, Sanderlings were out in huge numbers as they typically are this time of year, running back and forth with the waves and digging for insects and molluscs to feed on. Willets were the next most populous along the beach, easily visible with their tall and lanky appearance.

Ruddy Turnstone in breeding colors on the beach!

Next in line were Ruddy Turnstones, still showing their beautiful breeding plumage. And I also saw two additional shorebirds species in small numbers with 3 Black-bellied Plovers, showing off non-breeding colors, and 1 Semipalmated Plover mixed in with a group of Sanderlings. This one still had striking colors, and looked very dapper with it's single black neck ring. There was a report by Ron Furnish on eBird this week of a Piping Plover being spotted on the beach, but I didn't come across any on my walk. I did see a group of four White Ibis flying northward out over the coast, so those were probably the rarest birds I ended up with on the day. I'd like to get back out and walk further down the beach to at least the False Cape State Park boundary to see if more birds are out. Usually its pretty secluded on the beach with no vehicular traffic other than park officials, but there was a lot of trucks traveling through that must have been residents of the northeast towns in the Outer Banks, and are allowed on the beach under some grandfathering allowance. While headed back up from the beach, I took the southern or the two boardwalks, and was greeted by an Eastern Towhee sitting atop a shrub on the dunes. When I reached the Loop Road, a Prairie Warbler was sitting on the powerline that runs along the road. Usually it is their voice that alerts me to their location, but this one was just sitting still and was silent. I could barely photograph the color patterns that distinguished it as a Prairie due to the setting sun and lack of light. From there I headed back up to the parking area, seeing an Indigo Bunting and a Great Blue Heron along the way. From the parking lot a White-tailed Deer was also visible up on the dune ridge to the east. Dusk is the perfect time to see these guys in the park, but getting close enough to get clean photographs is very tough since the dunes are off limits to hiking. 

My first Willet in Virginia Beach this year, about time!

Wednesday the weather continued and so I did the same as the day before, ran home from work and quickly packed up and headed out the door. This time, I wanted to walk a beach again, but didn't want to go all the way out to Back Bay, and also knowing that low tide had passed, I didn't want to go to Pleasure House Point. So I went up to 88th Street at the oceanfront and walked up around Cape Henry as far as I could instead. Last time I was out here was about two weeks ago swimming during some big waves and I saw a lot of the usual stuff. This time, wearing hiking shoes and jeans, I could handle the walking a bit better than in a bathing suit. There was still a lot of people on the beach even though it was a weeknight, so that made it a little irritating since I don't like having my camera out around big groups of people on the beach. I walked northward towards the rock groins that protect the northeast corner of the cape and in doing so I got to see more of the usual birds that I'd seen the day before.

Lesser Black-backed Gull on the shore at Back Bay NWR!

Royal Terns and Brown Pelicans were the most numerous, with several Osprey also flying across the sky. Laughing, Ring-billed, Herring, Great Black-backed Gulls were all around, and I did see a pair of Forster's Terns today as well. On the ground, Sanderlings and Willets dominated, and unfortunately I did find a Willet that only had one foot, who knows what could have happened to the other one, though I assume some type of predator attacked and took it off, though I could be wrong. There was three Semipalmated Plovers walking along the beach as well, but these were the rarest find I had on the day, and they aren't too rare around here. As I was walking, a large pop-up thunderstorm formed right over top of the oceanfront and it looked pretty dire on my way back. I managed to not get soaked, or see any rain actually, but looking south down the beach it looked like it could be quite stormy. Crossing over the boardwalk on the dunes, I saw a Northern Mockingbird, heard an Eastern Towhee, and caught a glimpse of a bird perched far off on a shrub that may have been another Blue Grosbeak as they are quite common along the dunes. That was the bird I'd hoped most to get a photograph of this outing, but no luck unfortunately. Hopefully next time I'll get more of a chance, since I opted to leave a bit earlier than I'd like to have due to the storm building over top of me.

Forster's Tern along Cape Henry in Virginia Beach!

Thursday was a third beautiful day in a row, a third day of evening hiking as well. This time I chose to go to First Landing State Park since I'd again missed the low tide that makes Pleasure House Point a great birding spot. On days where I get there at high tide, Great Egrets and Yellow-crowned Night-Herons are really the only waterfowl/shorebirds that I'll end up seeing. As I'm looking it up, I can't even believe the last time I went to First Landing was April 23, and that was the 10th time I'd hiked the park in 2014, so I guess after a 4 month hiatus, it was very nice to get back out. Usually First Landing is my go-to park since its very accessible for after hours hikes, I really can't believe its been that long. Anyway, I parked up at 64th Street and ended up walking the Cape Henry Trail southwestward to the Long Creek Trail, then taking the Osprey Trail along Broad Bay and back out the Long Creek Trail to form a loop. This loop is about a 5 mile walk and can easily be accomplished in a couple of hours after work. The majority of the loop is in thicker forested areas, which makes it a bit tough to find birds in this time of year, though in spring time it is a great place to be to spot migrating songbirds (before the leaves are fully bloomed up). Today was like the usual here, I didn't see much until I reached the beach at Broad Bay, 2 mile in to the walk. Prior to this, I only saw a lone Osprey up a dead tree near the lake at the east end of the park. But once I reached the beach, I came across a juvenile Tricolored Heron sitting perfectly perched on a fallen log near the eastern tidal creek bridge. Using the bridge to steady my camera, I took about 20 shots before it got sick of me and flew off.

First Tricolored Heron of the year at First Landing State Park!

It was just a week ago that I'd finally seen my first of this species in Virginia Beach on the year, but they are started to appear all over the area it seems. In the section between the two tidal creeks, a pair of Great Egrets and a Snowy Egret were standing out in the marsh to the north. Also I caught sight of a group of songbirds but am not quite sure what they were from the photos, perhaps female tanagers? After passing through that set of woods and coming out on the next beach, I saw a shorebird walking along the water, and it popped it's tail so I thought at first it was a Spotted Sandpiper. However, when I got closer I realized it was actually a Short-billed Dowitcher. They have quite a long bill for their size, but the Long-billed Dowitcher species has one about two times longer, hence the names. After seeing this one and photographing, I went up White Hill, scaring off a Great Egret a couple times as it moved slowly down the shoreline, and then I turned back on the Long Creek Trail towards 64th Street. The walk back along the trail was pretty quiet, seeing just a couple American Robins, Tufted Titmouse, Carolina Chickadees, and a whole lot of well fed Gray Squirrels. A number of hikers & bikers were all over the Cape Henry Trail like usual, so no wildlife was seen to speak of from there on out of the park. As fall migration kicks into gear soon for songbirds, I'll be trying to get our more into the park to see if anything interesting shows up, though I think I'd be better served across the bay on the Eastern Shore, where migration funnels millions of birds into the small bottleneck south of Cape Charles before forcing birds across the 10+ miles of open water where Chesapeake Bay opens up to the Atlantic Ocean. 

Also a first, Short-billed Dowitcher at First Landing State Park!

I took a break on Friday from the photography since it was overcast, but on Saturday I gave it another go. Ruth & I went down to Back Bay NWR so she could bike, and I could hike. Unfortunately the sun went away within the first few minutes we were there, and never came back out, so I had poor lighting conditions to deal with the whole time. I walked to False Cape State Park along the East Dike Trail, then did the close loop through False Cape to the visitor center and headed back north to the Back Bay parking area for about an 8.5 mile walk. Along the trails, there was a number of songbirds present, plenty of Indigo Buntings, and a few Blue Grosbeaks, with many Common Yellowthroats singing from the marshes, though I did only actually see one. No Prairie Warblers this outing, which is unusual for this summer at Back Bay, as I think I've seen them everytime I've been there the last couple of months.

Horace's Duskywing at Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge!

The waterways, ditches/canals, along the East Dike were pretty full of water and there was no exposed mud flats to support any feeding shorebirds. The only shorebird I came across was a lone Spotted Sandpiper sitting about a hundred yards out west of the dike on the shore of the pond at the 90 degrees bend in the trail. I could see a number of wading birds further out towards the West Dike side of the marshes, but couldn't get good quality photographs so far away. On zoom, I could see Glossy & White Ibis, Little Blue Heron, and Great Egrets. As usual, Ospreys were numerous along the walk and I saw several returning from the sea with freshly caught fish hanging in their talons. No snakes were seen on this outing, but a fair number of turtles were perched up on logs in the waterways. I skipped on doing the Bay Trail at the end because I was pretty wore out, and the conditions weren't ideal. On the return trip to the parking area, a couple of Great Blue Herons made for easy photographs as they stood along the waterways of the Loop Road. All in all it was a good day, just tough weather to deal with, but at least it didn't rain at all!

Resident Great Blue Heron along the Loop Road at Back Bay NWR!

Sunday, August 10, was what would have been my father's 66th birthday, and every year I try to do an extra long hike to see as much stuff as I can since he was always into the outdoors. I decided I could get the longest hike in around here at Back Bay, so for probably an unprecedented third time this week I went down to the park early in the morning. This time I dropped Ruth off in Sandbridge so she could go to the beach as opposed to riding the bike through the park, though she did get 18 miles in yesterday while I was hiking. I planned to do the same hike as yesterday, only to do the return trip from False Cape State Park on the beachfront so I could see if any shorebirds have showed up that I didn't see last Tuesday on my walk. Along the Loop Road, I took the west side since the east side is the faster route for bikers getting to the East Dike Trail. I saw probably the same Great Blue Herons again today, and at the south end near the West Dike Gate I had a mated pair of Blue Grosbeaks flying from tree to tree posing for me, just on the wrong side of the sunlight. As with yesterday, the higher waters in the canals & ditches meant that no shorebirds were in sight along the waterways, except for yet again a lone sandpiper that may have been a Spotted or a Solitary. Wading birds were again see far out across the interior marshes towards the West Dike Trail area, which is closed to visitors this time of year unfortunately. It is my preferred trail through the park and seems to always hold interesting birds, though I'm always walking it in the springtime when it is open, so there may just be more birds in the park at that time. Again I did the loop counterclockwise into False Cape and passed the visitor center, and the spot where I'd seen an Eastern Wood-Pewee yesterday. This time at the center, I headed east to Barbour Hill and the beach, which this was the first time I've ever actually taken this route back. From the beach its about a 3.5 mile walk up the coastline to the first trail that cuts back into Back Bay NWR, since it is illegal to cross on the dunes back into the park, and there is a marsh running the whole length of the park behind them anyway. On the beach, just like on Tuesday, Sanderlings were by far the most abundant birds, with Willets, Ruddy Turnstones, and Semipalmated Plovers also quite numerous. Again I saw a few Black-bellied Plovers, and some this time still had their breeding black plumage on. The only different species I came across today along the beach was a pair of Whimbrels that passed high overhead moving southwards.

Some type of Grasshopper seen at Back Bay NWR on the Bay Trail!

Their long downcurved bills and patterned wings & tailfeathers made them easy to distinguish from ibis, which also have the downcurved bill around here. The standard terns and gulls were present, as were the pelicans. I did find a Black Scoter sitting up on the beach, which I felt was unusual, but the bird headed back out to the water as I passed, and seemed healthy enough. I had worried it might be injured since I've never seen one of these sea ducks, not in the sea. Hopefully he was alright, and I believe this was the same bird I could see off in the distance on Tuesday that I now-believe-mistakenly ID'd as a Red-breasted Merganser since I jumped to the conclusion by the fact it looked duck-like and was on the beach. When I got back into the interior of the park, I walked the Bay Trail, and got a few surprises, seeing another female Blue Grosbeak, a female Common Yellowthroat, and a Blue-gray Gnatcatcher. Also along the trail were tons and tons of dragonflies, mostly Halloween Pennants and Golden-winged Skimmers, and also one very large Southern Leopard Frog that was sitting right on the trail showing off it's beautiful green back with black spots all over. When I finished up my walk and measured at home, I ended the day with 10.5 miles of hiking, which is the most I've done this summer, and possibly even in 2014, I'll have to check on that. After last weekend of rainy weather it was great to have pretty much an entire week of gorgeous weather in Virginia Beach! I didn't get into the water like I'd hoped, but that was because I was too busy taking photographs, of which there are 175 in the gallery for this week, so click the link below to see them all. And I'd like to express my gratitude to my father who I'm shared played a big part in letting me see everything I did today! Next year I will try to get an even longer hike in.

Southern Leopard Frog sitting on the side of the Bay Trail at Back Bay NWR!

Week Ending August 3, 2014

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This week the weather started off hot, but cooled down nicely on Tuesday into the low 80s for the high and mid 70s throughout the afternoon. After work on Tuesday I ran home & put together my things, then headed up to Pleasure House Point in an attempt to start adding some shorebirds to my yearly list. This time of year, the shorebirds begin their migration from the tundra of northern Canada southward along the coastline. They like to stop on beaches and mudflats where they can feed by their preferred method of probing the wet ground with their bill for insects and crustaceans. Pleasure House Point features a lot of shoreline in the tidal estuary, and during low tide there is a lot of surface area of mudflats exposed so it is a great place to try and find them. Also, the birds have just crossed over the Chesapeake Bay moving southward which is about 11 miles of open water if crossing directly from Fisherman Island to Cape Henry on the south side. Because of this water crossing, the birds are likely very tired and very hungry, so they'll stop at the first place to refuel that they can, the Lynnhaven River estuary. For once, I actually managed to get to the park when it wasn't high tide.

Common Buckeye seen at Pleasure House Point!

Since I can only go after work, I don't usually bother to check the tide charts since I can't plan my times of visit anyway, so it is always a surprise to me as to where the water levels are. Well today it was approaching low tide, so the shorelines were packed with birds feeding finally! Most of what I came across wasn't necessarily shorebirds though, in fact the very first bird I saw was a Tricolored Heron flying circles high up over the creek. Folks had posted photographs of some on Facebook earlier in the day so I was very happy to be able to re-locate one, my first one the year in Virginia Beach, bringing me up to 149 species here in 2014! All along the creek, herons & egrets seemed to be in higher than normal numbers. I saw several Green Herons, both adult and immatures, on my way across the park from west to east, and the Yellow-crowned Night-Herons were again seen in high numbers. I ran into a birder as I was watching a Green Heron near the southernmost point, and laughably it turned out to be Ron Furnish, whom I'd just had correspondence with last week for the first time due to a Mississippi Kite showing up in his backyard and him passing information on to me. It was nice to put a face to the emails now, so after crossing paths a couple more times along the trail and passing information, I'm pretty confident I'll get that kite if it shows up again. I also met another birder on the trails today, Becky Morrow, who is living in the area while her husband is here with the military.

Adult Yellow-crowned Night-Heron feeding on the oyster flats during low tide at Pleasure House Point!

After all the talking, I had reached the eastern end of the park, where the large mudflat is visible just offshore to the east. It was littered with birds, most of which were Royal and Forster's Terns, Laughing, Herring, & Great Black-backed Gulls, but it also included at least one Killdeer, several Black Skimmers, even a couple of Caspian Terns. I didn't locate any Oystercatchers like I've been hoping for for a while now, and Ron posted a photo of a Pectoral Sandpiper that I  missed (actually I've never seen one in my life either), so next time I'll have to pay closer attention. On the way back westward, the Yellow-crowns were really out on the largest tidal bay, I counted 7 individuals within sight at one moment, so there could be quite a few more in the park scattered around, most of these were immature birds. Green Herons continued to fly past me, and be seen along the muddy exposed banks. Across the creek near the golf course I could see a Raccoon walking on the mud, and quickly realized there was a second, smaller one adjacent to it, more than likely a mother and a pup (?). A short while later, I spotted a third Raccoon, another adult, about a hundred feet or so west of the pair, also feeding on shellfish out on the mudflats. Though I did walk all the way west, then all the way back east again, and returned west to the car, the majority of what I was seeing were Great Egrets and Yellow-crowns. I did see several Ospreys, and of course there was gulls & terns flying overhead constantly, even a few Sandwich Terns. As it was starting to get darker out, I headed back home, but it was a very successful day at the park, hopefully I'll be able to get more shorebirds in the coming weeks as they continue to move southward from their tundra-based summer homes.

Great Egret feeding on the oyster flats during low tide at Pleasure House Point!

Wednesday was another gorgeous sunny, dry, and about mid 70s day, so I wanted to go for a walk through the neighborhood. I ended up walking my 6 mile route through Little Neck, without my camera though since I feel weird walking around residential areas with a 400mm telephoto lens on a camera. Along the walk I saw a number of songbirds and common feeder birds, but the most surprising sightings were the large number of blue-tailed skinks (Five-lined Skink or Southeastern Five-lined Skins, I can't tell the difference yet). They seemed to love being out on the hot asphalt bike path along Little Neck Road and would scurry into the vegetation when I approached. I'll have to take my camera out along the path sometime just to get some of these beautiful lizards, since I don't see them as frequently on hikes, there was probably over 20 that ran off along my route. I thought perhaps the Mississippi Kites might flyover or land in a tree nearby, but again no luck with that, though I did return home to find a voicemail from Ron Furnish stating that they were over in his backyard yet again, but I missed out on that, yet again, so perhaps later in the week I'll get another shot, they seem to be all over the few square mile area around Thoroughgood where a nest has been reported. The remainder of the week unfortunately saw a lot of overcast skies with mainly threatening rain. Friday, the clouds rolled in, and the sun never showed itself again. I'd brought my pack & gear on Friday to work hoping that I could get down to Back Bay NWR afterwards, but unfortunately, the rain had already begun so I ended up going straight home instead. Saturday morning, I got up to the same situation, though it was just sprinkling. Ruth & I went down to the oceanfront to try out the farmer's market at the parking area around Croc's restaurant on 17th Street & Cypress Avenue.

Green Heron feeding on the oyster flats during low tide at Pleasure House Point!

Unable to find a whole lot of good produce though, we ended up deciding to go into Pungo instead. On the way, we detoured into Chesapeake to where the Anhingas have been seen along Blackwater Road just east of Fentress. I brought my camera just in case we got a chance to visit them while the rain was halted, and after a few minutes of surveying the small lake they're nesting on, we made the sighting! A female was perched about half way up a large tree on the north shore of the lake, and we then noticed that the nest was in the same tree, but was better viewed from the western corner of the lake. At least 3 juvenile birds could be seen moving around inside the nest, with an adult male feeding the birds. Another adult male was perched atop the tree for a total count of 6 Anhingas. Also on the lake were a large number of Green Herons, of which we counted 5 at the same time as they streamed in line from east to west across the lake. It appeared a nest, which I believe was one of theirs, was set up in the overhanging branches just next to the eastern viewing spot. I didn't remember this viewing road having been there in the past so it may have been a recently cut access to the lake. Hopefully the added accessibility doesn't cause the Anhingas to not nest here in the future, since they've been a big hit with the locals over the last few years. They really aren't seen anywhere else around here, being that we are at the extreme northeast portion of their expected range. After this quick stop, we drove around Pungo and did find some quality produce for the next week to dine on. I didn't get a chance to see any more wildlife though on Saturday, and Sunday we had the same weather again. I did get out for a 7 mile walk around the neighborhood, but it was so gloomy I didn't risk bringing the camera, and the only bird that showed itself was a male Eastern Towhee so it wouldn't have been used very much regardless. Hopefully the next week can clear off a bit so I can get some photography in, though it at least felt good to get 17 miles of walking in this week after struggling through the month of July, probably averaging less than 10 miles each week.

A new lifer for me, an Anhinga, seen off Blackwater Road in Chesapeake!

Week Ending July 27, 2014

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This week was one of the most hectic I've had this year! I had to do some travel for work on Tuesday up to our office in Richmond, then had an important vet visit for Buster on Wednesday, and Thursday Ruth & I were to drive to Chicago after a half day's work for my cousin Ryan's wedding on Saturday. Fortunately everything went well at the vet office on Wednesday for Buster, and his bacterial infection is gone, leaving just some belly worms to deal with still. He's doing great, and was officially put on an annual plan since he's considered healthy enough now, so it looks like we're stuck with the little guy! With all that excitement, and the wedding weekend, this wasn't a week of outdoor adventures for me unfortunately, but more so a weekend of getting to visit with my family back home. On Friday morning though, after having arrived at about 3 AM Eastern Time in Munster, Indiana, Ruth, my mom & I went out for a quick walk of Plum Creek Nature Preserve. I had visited the park a couple of times back in June while I was visiting my mother after my trip to Minnesota, and we'd had great luck at seeing wildlife, especially White-tailed Deer of which we saw about a dozen in two outings. Given that, I thought we'd have a good showing and the Ruth would get to experience some up close deer sightings. Somehow between June & now, it appears all the deer have vanished in the park, as we did not find a single one. We walked the same general trails as I had the last time, mainly through forested areas, but a couple stretches of open meadow/prairie lands.

Beautifully colored male Eastern Towhee sang from this branch for quite some time!

A large group of people were also out walking so perhaps they managed to scare everything off before we got to see it? We did find some Cedar Waxwings out on the meadow, where I'd seen Indigo Buntings in June. No warblers seemed to be present, though I may have heard a Prairie Warbler softly in the distance, I just couldn't tell for sure, but definitely no Common Yellowthroats like with my last visit in June. I did get to see an Eastern Towhee male up close, and snapped a number of photographs of it, and of a Blue-gray Gnatcatcher that happened to move into view at the same time! Along the main road's fields we saw a number of Eastern Meadowlarks, which I believe to be my first of the year, and Ruth & my mom got very spooked off by a small Brownsnake that they scared up from the grass. Of course, I got a couple close-up shots of it, but the lack of sun didn't provide great results. I did find a pair of American Goldfinches on the way back to the car as well, but this was really it for wildlife on the week. Although, I should mention this here as well, on Thursday morning the Mississippi Kites that have been sighted in Thoroughgood were sighting in my own Kings Grant neighborhood. I did a quick drive by after work to the area they were seen, and I did find a hawk as it cruised into a tree to perch. Unfortunately, it was just too far up to see clearly enough for an ID in poor light, and I didn't have my camera or binoculars with me. I tried again on the way out of town with the camera, but then unfortunately couldn't relocate the bird. Hopefully next week I'll be more outdoorsy & productive, I'm itching for some good photography outings after spending about 30 hours over the last 4 days in the car traveling to Chicago and back! 

A very small Brownsnake that was seen in the meadow near the parking area of Plum Creek Nature Preserve.

Week Ending July 20, 2014

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With our newly adopted stray kitten, Buster, running around the apartment, I spent my weeknights this week at home. I also spent my lunch break at home playing with the little guy. He seems to be doing very well, though he has a vet appointment next week where we'll see for certain what his outlook is in terms of the infection he had when we caught him, and the worms in his belly issue. He's filled out a lot now that he's had a steady diet, and he took the antibiotics all week long so hoping that he's in the clear, since Ruth & I are extremely attached to the little guy now. I can't imagine what its like having a child, because I'm already feeling the need to be more responsible just worrying about having a kitten at home. He seems to be more and more comfortable with the apartment though, and he hasn't really been running and hiding as much as on Saturday, mostly just playing and running around, or sleeping. We're still trying to figure out what we're going to do with him next weekend when we have to travel, but we'll figure that out later.

Immature Green Heron hanging out at Pleasure House Point in the freshwater shallows.

This week we finally saw a cool down in temperatures after several weeks of 90+ degree heat. On Friday, I went down to Pleasure House Point after work for a quick walk to see what wildlife might be around. On the way up, I drove down Independence Boulevard near Thoroughgood, hoping I might catch a glimpse of one of the Mississippi Kites that has been seen around the area, and I may very well have seen it, or just an Osprey high up. I couldn't stop the car and get the camera lens out fast enough to verify. And I happened to pull into a school parking lot where kids were playing soccer, not exactly the place a lone man wants to be seen sporting a high power camera lens nearby. I'll have to get back up to the area looking for the bird again next week after work one day as several folks have now re-sighted at least one bird here. A few minutes later, I parked off Marlin Bay Drive and headed into Pleasure House Point. I walked the park west to east this time just so the sun would be at my back right off the bat. Right away I could already see that I again managed to arrive at the park during high tide. Since I can only go after work, I don't usually check the tides, since it won't affect my decision, but it was a bummer to see the water so high. When the tides are in, there are no visible mudflats out in the Lynnhaven River, so the smaller shorebirds don't have any ground surface to hunt or feed on. Because of this, the birds I'd expect to see were the ones I did see, lots of Great Egrets and Yellow-crowned Night-Herons. However, on my way eastward, I did find a young Green Heron feeding in the long & narrow pond near the end of Marlin Bay Drive. It let me take a number of photographs of it stalking minnows in the freshwater. I didn't actually notice it as I walked past since it was well hidden and at an angle you couldn't notice that direction, but having spotted an immature Yellow-crowned Night-Heron further down the shoreline, I turned around to try and sneak up on it. That is when the Green Heron came perfectly into view. I did also get some shots of the Yellow-crowned Night-Heron, but it was actually asleep at the time while standing up, so the shots are all of a bird with eyes closed, not the usual shot.

Double-crested Cormorant swimming in Pleasure House Creek.

Walking further along the river, I again looked back to see that something must have spooked the Green Heron, probably a dog or it's owner, since folks don't like to leash their dogs here like they are supposed to. It flew past me and continued down the river to a safer spot, so very glad I was able to see it when I did earlier. Along the southern portion of the park I could hear Clapper Rails calling out in the grassy islands in the river, but as usual I didn't see any. You can only find these guys when the tide is low and the sneak out of the grasses to feed, and usually only for a few moments before they disappear into the thick vegetation again. Ospreys were flying around the park like they typically do as well. I was ready for a Black Skimmer to show up this time, having botched my chance at photographing one the last outings, but I never did get a chance. On the way back westward, I cut in on the Meadow Trail which stays inland from the river a little bit. Coming around a stand of pine trees, a pair of Blue Grosbeak were calling and hopping from tree to tree. I took photographs of a male that sat still on top of a tree for about 15 minutes. While trying to get into a better angled spot, I flushed a Cooper's Hawk that had been hiding nearby, and it quickly made a getaway. It was either there hunting the grosbeaks, or numerous Mourning Doves that also flew over. In this same spot there was a number of blackberry plants with plenty of the berries ripened. I didn't see any birds eating them, but I wonder if the grosbeak like this spot because of these berries. And clearly the hawks would like it because of the songbirds they attract to feed. Near the largest pond in the park I spotted an immature Yellow-crowned Night-Heron that was just beginning to grow it's crest feathers, and they looked rather scraggly, almost like he had just electrocuted himself and his hair was standing up in all directions. I walked to the very west part of the park but didn't see any new birds, and so I hit the car and drove on home. While crossing the Lesner Bridge, I could see about a dozen Black Skimmer sitting on the sand right next to the water on the point just east of the boat launch that is not accessible from Pleasure House Point. I had to laugh at that since I've been trying to photograph them, and here was a whole bunch, but out of view from the park and only viewable to the cars traveling down Shore Drive. 

A school of Menhaden baitfish in the shallows at Pleasure House Point.

Saturday, we got up around 7, but the weather was very overcast and they were calling for showers, so it made it difficult to get excited for hiking, or going to the beach, so we ended u doing neither. On Sunday though, we had a perfect day of weather, and we went down to 88th Street beach at the north end of Virginia Beach's oceanfront. On the way out to the beach from the street, we saw an Eastern Towhee and a pair of Northern Mockingbirds, a good start. Since it was sunny, and I never know for how long that sun will last some days, I went walking down the beach onto Fort Story's beach up to where the rock groins begin. Last time out, I saw a few Least Terns here so I figured I'd have a chance to see more today. There ended up being a number of different shorebird species in flight along the beachfront including: Royal Terns, Forster's Terns, Least Terns, Sandwich Terns, and a brand new one for me today, a Gull-billed Tern! I had written it off as a Sandwich Tern while taking it's photograph, but after I got home I realized it lacked the yellow tip on the bill, and it's bill was much stubbier than that of a standard tern. So I got to add a new bird to my life list today, and thats now a 148 species of birds seen in Virginia Beach in 2014! Also along the beach were Brown Pelicans, Ring-billed, Herring, Laughing, and Great Black-backed Gulls. High up I saw some Ospreys circling around, and one did also fly past with a fish in it's talons. Far up the beach, a pod of Atlantic Bottlenose Dolphins was swimming just a couple hundred feet offshore, and they stayed near enough to the surface at times to be able to photograph the dorsal fin & part of the back. I've still never seen them breaching from the water again like I did after Hurricane Irene went through in 2011, that day they came fully out of the water, and very close to a group of surfers which made for quite a show. I stayed up on the northernmost stretch of beach before the rock groins for a half hour or so hoping to get as many photos as possible as birds flew along the coast line. A number of Purple Martins were also flying around and then landing on some sort of communications antenna on the base. The Ghost Crabs, like every beach visit this time of year, were all out in full force. I got to watch them scamper every which way as I walked down the beach, even seeing a few go sideways right into the ocean's breaking waves. A couple, I got to observe burrowing down into the sand right as the waves were about to hit them, which was very neat behavior that I'd never noticed of them before. During this walk, the tide was very low, and the beach very wide and flat as a result.

Immature Yellow-crowned Night-Heron sporting some new crest feathers!

As we stayed out for awhile, we got to see the water level rise considerably (the change from low to high tide here is anywhere from 2.5 to 3.5 feet depending on the season & phase of the moon), so definitely something noticeable if you're out for a half cycle (low tide to high tide or vice versa, 6 hours change). When I walked back to the spot Ruth had set up our camp at, of course I had a flock of Pelicans fly right over top of me in great view, having already put my camera and lens away so as not to show it to all the other beachgoers. I spent a couple hours out in the water today, more than usual, since the waves were fantastic. Very long period waves, some of them were probably 7 or 8 feet in height, and an absolute blast to body surf on. A few times I had waves take me easily a hundred feet right in to shore, I wish they could be like that every day, maybe then I'd actually give real surfing a try, but until then, its just fun to swim with them, and have them pick me up right on top. I doubt I'll see waves quite like these again for a while, though I hope I do next time!

Adult Brown Pelican in flight, along the coastline above Fort Story's beach.

After the long swim, I did one more walk, this time with Ruth in the same direction and length as the first walk. The same birds were seen this time, 4 species of gull and 5 species of tern, which is pretty good for just a half hour or so walking along the beach. A few Double-crested Cormorants flew by as well this time. A group of Ring-billed Gull had built themselves a little camp near some beachgoers as well, which means they probably had thrown food out nearby. I got a few good shots of one of the gulls as it was wading in the shallow surf. At this point in the day, the water had come up a couple of feet, so the walkable beach was no longer flat and wide, instead it was very steep, having turned into a line of sand cliffs a couple feet high where the waves would come in and slowly undermine the cliffs until they collapsed. Then the process would just continue. Returning from the walk, I went out for another hour or so into the waves before getting completely exhausted and getting packed up to leave. Crossing over the sand dunes on the way out, several Blue Grosbeaks could be seen jumping from shrub to shrub in the more vegetated areas of the beach, but since it had just begun raining (despite being completely sunny over top of us, and no clouds anywhere close to us) I didn't take the camera back out. It was one of the stranger sunshowers I've ever seen, but when it's in the 80s and sunny, it can rain all it wants to in my opinion!

Bottlenose Dolphin just offshore near Fort Story!!

This coming week on Wednesday, we have to get our little kitten Buster back in for a checkup to see how his antibiotics have done, and to see if he needs more de-wormer or anything else. So I'll be nice and stressed out until I get word from the vet that he's healthy and will be around us for a long time, so here's hoping for good news! Immediately after, on Thursday, Ruth & I are driving back to Chicago for my cousin Ryan's wedding on Saturday, and to go to the Pierogi Festival in Whiting, Indiana on Friday night with my mom & stepdad, which I'm very excited for since I've never been to it having spent all my summers in Minnesota with my father until I moved to Virginia. Sunday we have to get up super early, and return back to Virginia, another 14-15 hour day in the car, at roughly 950 miles away. So this will be a very hectic week and I will probably not be supplying a blog of it, unless something happens & I get to see some wildlife somehow. We also still aren't sure what to do with the kitten while we're away, so again, a very hectic week, but hopefully in my next blog I'll be able to discuss how everything went smoothly!

Breeding adult Ring-billed Gull hopping in the shallow beach water at Fort Story!