Week Ending September 7, 2014

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This week we were blessed with a 3-day weekend, being that Monday was Labor Day. Because of this, I was fortunate enough to continue my hiking spree for a third day in a row. Late on Saturday night I saw some postings on the Listserver about a lot of birds being spotted down at Mackay Island National Wildlife Refuge just over the border from Virginia Beach in North Carolina. Karen & Tom Beatty, and Keith & Karen Roberts both got good photographs of a pair of Hudsonian Godwits, and also took some shots of an American Golden-Plover near the pumphouse junction. Because of those sightings of two species that I'd never seen before, I decided to finally take my first trip into Mackay Island NWR. The drive from my Kings Grant apartment complex is a fairly long one, probably close to an hour, but its a very peaceful one as you travel through the southern, rural portion of Virginia Beach known as Pungo, or sometimes referred to as "Princess Anne County". Once you cross the state line, its just a few miles of beautiful marshland with sparsely populated treed areas scattered about. The first couple of miles in the refuge travel down a gravel road along some freshwater impoundments (very similar to the dikes at Back Bay NWR). Along the roadway there was a number of Bullfrogs seen, and I saw a large Cooper's Hawk perched up on a tree branch, but as soon as I stopped to try and photograph it, it took off into flight.

Glossy Ibis at left, hanging out with a Tricolored Heron at right, taken at Mackay Island NWR!

As it flew across the marsh, I could see flocks of songbirds spiraling around it, frightened by this bird-eater. A short drive gets you to the pumphouse parking area, and this is as far as the cars can go during normal times, though there are some weekends where the roads are open to vehicle traffic, this wasn't one of them. I was greeted immediately by a pair of birders who I recognized quickly as Karen & Tom Beatty, clearly out to re-sight their Hudsonian Godwits and Plovers! Surprisingly, this was the first time we'd all met, but having discussed birding so much over the past 18 months via the group, and even before that through other pages on facebook, it was very nice to finally get some face to face time. They each pointed out a number of shorebirds that were wandering around the nearby mudflat, and were both very much better prepared than I was, with their binoculars and spotting scope. One of these days I'll finally bite the bullet and get a scope, especially for these little shorebirds that all look very similar in fall. After learning a few things from them on ID'ing the little birds, Karen went for a short walk with me southward along the impoundment roadway. We didn't happen upon the godwits, or the golden-plover, but there was so many birds visible, and Karen said there was way more on Sunday. I ended up walking a loop around the main impoundment, which is roughly 3 miles. The sweltering 90+ degree heat, and complete lack of shade really got to me though, so I wasn't too bummed out when I found that the roadways I was originally going to hike were actually closed off areas of the park. On the way around I saw large numbers of Canada Geese, which made for great backdrops to some scenery photographs I took for the website. Greater & Lesser Yellowlegs, peeps (Least/Western/Semipalmated Sandpipers), Semipalmated Plovers, and Spotted Sandpipers were all seen.

Large numbers of Canada Geese were seen at Mackay Island NWR this week!

Short-billed Dowitchers were also extremely numerous, and one of the few shorebirds that really stood out to me with their large bills and stocky bodies. For the non-birders that might happen upon this post, there was also a large amount of turtles and frogs out and about in the impoundment, as well as quite a few Black-and-Yellow Garden Spiders with their zigzagged webs placed along the trail. While walking back to the parking area, I was greeted by the Beattys and a few more people that happened to have showed up. Keith & Karen Roberts were both there, as well as Kevin Johnson & Yung-Han Chang, who had actually been walking the same path I did just out ahead of me. They had all gathered near the pumphouse and were watching the pair of Hudsonian Godwits that had finally returned! I finally got my lens on them, and was surprised to see that they appeared quite small at the long range, but definitely godwits with their long, sword-like bills probing the mud for a meal. Keith was kind enough to also point out a Pectoral Sandpiper to me that was walking near a seemingly tiny-by-comparison Least Sandpiper. So I finally was able to get my first verifiable shots of a Pectoral, though I'm sure I've seen them before and just was unable to truly ID them. Everyone stayed and chatted for a few minutes & Karen Beatty was able to get some photographs of us all for the group page, which I may end up adding to the website here at some point as well. Once everyone had gone, I had planned to do some more walking, but I decided with the heat, to just call it a morning and I headed out from the refuge. I did pay close attention along the causeway road leading back to the mainland, since Karen Beatty had mentioned that a Common Gallinule family had been seen there throughout the summer. I thought I came upon it, then slammed on the brakes and backed up to try and photograph it, but realized it was actually a Wood Duck instead, but still a nice surprise sighting.

Semipalmated Plover, one of many, many species of shorebirds that are being seen around the region right now.

Feeling a bit bad about not doing more walking, I decided since I was all the way out in rural Virginia Beach, that I'd cut over the North Landing River and stop at the Nature Conservancy's Milldam Creek Boardwalk trail. With how hot it was, and being sunny, I thought it would be the perfect time to check for some Green Treefrogs along the boardwalk. Last summer, my girlfriend Ruth & I had stopped down there and seen quite a few of them, more than I'd ever seen at one time actually. This time, missing my treefrog spotter (Ruth), I was only able to locate one, and it took me a good amount of searching! But, all I needed was one to be able to get some neat photographs. These little green guys are a favorite of mine since they're so neat the way they're able to tuck their bodies up against a surface and seemingly just stick to it. So after a few shots here I headed back northward towards home. On the way up Blackwater Road I figured I should stop to see if the Anhingas were within viewing range, but all 4 of them were out in a far off tree so I wasn't able to get any quality shots. Still very neat to see them on their pond again, I'm hoping they come back again to breed next year! After all was said and done, I finally made it home about 1:30 in the afternoon and started the troublesome task of going through all my shorebirds photographs!

Black-and-Yellow Garden Spider (aka writing spider, garden spider, argiope) seen at Mackay Island NWR.

Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday were all quiet days as I spent my time in the office. On Wednesday I got to spent my evening celebrating my 4 year anniversary with my girlfriend Ruth, where we decided to grab dinner at our favorite local resturant, Stove. Being such a huge wildlife fan, I of course had to sample their current fish lineup, which was Wreckfish, and it was amazing as always. If you've never been to the restaurant, I beg you to go try it out! On Friday, the day kicked off with me in the office again, but also with a Sea Turtle release down at the Oceanfront at 9 AM. WVEC posted an article about the release which can be found here: http://www.wvec.com/my-city/vabeach/Virginia-Aquarium-to-release-three-sea-turtles--274069741.html. The jist of it though is that three turtles, Boston Bruin (a Loggerhead Sea Turtle), Maleficent and Gaston (Kemp's Ridley Sea Turtles) were all rehabilitated over the past year by the Virginia Aquarium after being picked up by their stranding team, and were finally healthy enough to put back out into the wild. The Loggerhead is outfitted with a transponder that will report it's location to the website http://seaturtle.org/ for those who are interested in checking in on it's future status! Aside from the turtles, its another pretty quiet day here in Hampton Roads. I am actually heading out to Nashville, TN shortly to visit one of my good friends, and might get out to do some hiking in the foothills, but am mainly traveling to spend time in the city itself. 

Green Treefrog clinging to it's napping reed at Milldam Creek in Virginia Beach!

Well I made all my flights, and am now back in Virginia Beach. While I was on my trip to Nashville, my friend Smitty & I went to a park called Cummins Falls State Park, which was an hour or two east of the city. We parked up on some high ground, and walked a trail down into a large river gorge. The trail ends at the river, and from there, you walk a half mile or so upstream…literally up the stream. I didn’t anticipate getting as soaking wet as I did, but fortunately it was a hot, humid day in Tennessee. We walked up and river to a massive waterfall, and pool situated below the falls, quite an impressive sight actually. There was a lot of other hikes on the “trail” so I didn’t take a whole ton of photographs, but did get one very nice one of the falls with no people in the way to ruin it (see below). The falls here is unique in that fact that you can climb up different levels beneath it, and actually walk under and behind the falling water, something almost out of a movie. So we did this, getting soaked in the process, and then headed back downstream to the trailhead. We did another quick trail up to an overlook that looked down on the falls & pool, but again with so many visitors, it was very hard to get any true nature photography in. I’d also left my longer lens back home since I wasn’t anticipating doing any wildlife stuff this weekend, having just brought my scenery lens. Naturally, I saw several Spotted Sandpipers along the creek that would have made for nice photographs, and a pair of Ruby-throated Hummingbirds even flew past us, almost battling it out in midair, which could have been great. It’s always when I don’t have my gear, that I see such neat things!

Cummins Falls in Tennessee, a breathtakingly beautiful 75' tall drop into a clearwater pool!

Week Ending August 31, 2014

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The week started off with me continuing to furiously work on the website to get it ready for it's public release! However, unlike the previous week, I did get into the outdoors this week, which greatly helps when writing this blog and trying to update folks on what's been seen around the area. Having firsthand knowledge from my own outings gives me some great insight into what others are probably seeing as well. This week, we had yet another tropical cyclone (Hurricane Cristobal) head up along the east coast, but staying out to sea far enough that it's worse effects weren't felt here in our area. We did receive strong, strong northeasterly winds from the hurricane, and as a result, large waves and strong rip currents along the coast. These winds also helped in raising the tidal levels all across Virginia Beach especially, where waters were about 0.5 to 1 foot above normal. Also this week, the Virginia Aquarium released a statement that they had found a sharply cut DVD case in the stomach lining of the Sei Whale that died last week and washed up near St. Julians Creek, a tributary of the Southern Branch of the Elizabeth River. They have not stated yet as to whether it was the actual cause of death, but something that could have affected it in a negative fashion. More on this as soon as they make the results of the autopsy public. 

Yellow-crowned Night-Heron immature up at Pleasure House Point in Virginia Beach on Wednesday.

On Wednesday, with beautiful, albeit, warm weather, I went for a quick couple-loop walk of Pleasure House Point to see if anything new has showed up. This time of year, the shorebirds (sandpipers, plovers, godwits, etc.) are migrating southward from their tundra breeding grounds in northern Canada. Along their path, they stop at beaches and fields on the East Coast, and after a long crossing of the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay, they find themselves tired and in Virginia Beach. It is the perfect time of year to find these birds, since it's also a great time of year to spend on the beach, where the wind and the waves can provide for much needed relief from the summer heat. The low tide happened to coincide Wednesdays and Thursday with about the time I typically get off work, so I was able to be at Pleasure House Point during primetime shroebirding. However, I didn't really find a whole lot of them. Typically they can be seen in numbers out on the tidal mudflats to the east of the park out in the Lynnhaven River estuary. This time though, there was a pair of kayakers who had pulled up onto the mudflat, and another gentleman appeared to be shellfishing. Because of these intruders, the birds were all farther out, away from them and out of range of my camera's 400mm lens and binoculars. Fortunately, the wading birds (herons & egrets) were numerous in the park, as is pretty typical.

Black-bellied Plover along the beach at Back Bay NWR!

Immature Yellow-crowned Night-Herons were seen all over, and several Great Egrets were as well. I saw a couple of Green Herons, both flying past, and then later feeding along the marshy islands. Clapper Rails could be heard out in the marshy islands as well, but like most days, none showed themselves long enough in the open to be seen by me at least. Gulls and Terns were around in their usual numbers, mainly Laughing Gulls and Royal Terns, but I did also see a couple of Caspian Terns, and there was Ring-billed, Herring, and Great Black-backed Gulls visible throughout the area as well. Walking mainly on the trails that follow the water's edge, I saw the birds I expected too, so I did also try walking some of the inland trails hoping to find some songbirds. Unfortunately nothing could be found this time, no Blue Grosbeaks were seen in the pine stand where I've found them in the past. Northern Mockingbirds and Mourning Doves were really the only non-wading or shorebirds seen this outing. I took off about 6:30 from the park to head home for dinner, crossing the Lesner Bridge on the way, which is now under construction. Over the next couple of years, a new bridge will be built to the north of the existing bridge, and then once traffic is shifted over to it, the existing bridge will be demolished. So far nothing has been done that has had a major impact on traffic, but I'm sure when the switchover is being made, traffic will be impacted, but that should be a ways off. 

Common Tern flying into a strong headwind at Back Bay NWR!

The weather forecast for the holiday weekend was looking extremely nice, so Saturday morning I got up pretty excited, having planned to hit Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge for a hike. When I woke up though, it as completely overcast, and thick clouds, with very little sun coming through. My girlfriend Ruth & I decided to still head down that way though in the hopes that it would break, and the sun would fill the sky as the weathermen had said it would. While getting into the car, we heard what turned out to be a Gray Squirrel, and glanced over to see it come screaming down the full length of a tall pine tree across from our apartment. Looking up above it revealed the reason it burst down the tree, as a large Red-tailed Hawk was perched up top, and then took off in disgust after not catching it's prey. I took a couple poor shots of it when it landed atop another large pine, but it was soon chased off by some American Crows and didn't return. So after the commotion, we headed out on the road. Ruth had planned on spending her morning on the beach at Sandbridge, where I often drop her off at Little Island Park on my way to hike at Back Bay, but given the overcast skies, she opted to come hiking with me instead. Like the last couple trips I've made to the park, I wanted to get a full view of what wildlife was out there. We walked from the parking area near the contact station south along what's called the Loop Road to the East Dike Trail. It was pretty quiet along the way, but a Great Blue Heron provided for some great photographs on the pond near the parking lot. The East Dike Trail is only open during the summertime, and at the end of October, it will be closed once again until March 1. This is done to protect wintering waterfowl, who use the marshes and impoundments as a winter refuge, essentially the purpose of the wildlife refuge. The East Dike Trail travels south towards False Cape State Park for roughly 3 miles. Along it, several large areas of fields are found. This time of year, they're pretty dry, looking like marsh, but without the water. In the winter, they're filled with water for the waterfowl to use. But this time of year, they're used by shorebirds, as I mentioned earlier in the blog.

A beautiful Willet showing off it's black & white wing stripes at Back Bay!

I could see tons of them flying in circles out over the fields, but too far out to be able to identify unfortunately. The only birds I could positively ID were a large number of Great Egrets that were also very far out, but large enough birds to be able to see clear enough. The trail eventually comes to a junction, and a set of signs that let you know you've reached the boundary with False Cape State Park, which I believe is the only state park in Virginia that cannot be driven into. Access is limited to those biking or hiking from Back Bay NWR, or from people walking the beach from North Carolina north into the park. A visitor center is set up about a half mile south of the northern boundary, and we headed that way. The "Friends of False Cape" were hosting a barbecue this weekend near the visitor center, but since we didn't bring any cash, we weren't indulging in what would have been a welcome treat. Total distance at this point was probably 4.5 miles, which didn't seem tiring at the time. The next mile of walking heads eastward towards the coast, and eventually spills you out onto a section of dunes called Barbour Hill before finally breaking onto the beachfront. It was extremely hot and humid along the dunes, so feeling the ocean breeze felt amazing when we finally reached it. From this point, I like to walked the beach back north, about 3.5-4 miles to the Back Bay parking area. A more direct route than the interior East Dike Trail, but a tougher walk on the sand. This time of year the beach is full of wildlife. On the trip north, we saw large numbers of shorebirds, the same species I saw last outing: Sanderling, Willet, Ruddy Turnstone, Black-bellied Plover, and Semipalmated Plover. In the air, Royal, Sandwich, Forster's, Common, and Caspian Terns were all seen, as well as Laughing, Ring-billed, Herring, Lesser & Great Black-backed Gulls. The usual other seabirds were seen, Brown Pelicans and Double-crested Cormorants, as well as the main bird of prey seen along the coast, the Osprey.

One of the more beautifully marked shorebirds, a Ruddy Turnstone, in flight at Back Bay!

The sun did eventually start to break up the clouds, and it got even hotter, and much brighter out. So the nice easy beach walk turned itself into quite a trek. With about a mile left on the beach we were both getting pretty beat, and I kept thinking the trail back into the park was coming up soon. I wasn't even paying attention to the birds as much, just wanting to get back to the car. But then I saw a pair of Willets ahead, and it wasn't until I put my camera lens on the pair that I realized one of them wasn't a Willet, but a Marbled Godwit! Godwits are large shorebirds, with very long slightly curved bills that come to a sharp point, unlike the Willet's blunt looking bill. I have seen them in the past, but never in Virginia Beach, so this was a very interesting sighting for me, and I made sure to snap quite a few photographs before a pair of walkers scared the pair off into flight, and then I snapped a couple more! Having seen a new shorebird, my spirits were uplifted and we made the rest of the walk back to the car. Since the sun was now out, we got changed, and headed up to Little Island Park to spend the afternoon on the beach. This park is a city-owned one, and therefore they charge $3 for Virginia Beach residents to park, which isn't bad given what you can pay at other spots like the Oceanfront Resort Area. A quick walk over the duneline gets you down to the beach, which is almost always crowded unfortunately, but it's still just nice to be out in the water. We stayed the afternoon, and of course since I can't shut off my brain from looking for birds, I was happy to see some Boat-tailed Grackles nearby. Some of them have now shed their tailfeathers, and are molting their head & neck feathers as well, so they look quite pathetic. Soon enough though, they'll be in full feathers again. The waves were really rolling in today, and therefore the lifeguards weren't allowing anyone too far out, which is quite a bummer since I couldn't get out in the big waves which I enjoy doing on hot days. At least this time though I didn't have any jellyfish encounters like I had two weekends ago. I did get to see a number of gulls and terns, the same types I'd seen earlier, but its always fun to watch them while laying in a beach chair nonetheless!

The Marbled Godwit seen along the beach at Back Bay NWR, a new county lifer for me!

Sunday morning started off the way Saturday was supposed to, nice and sunny out. It was much hotter though, with temperatures expected to hit 90+ degrees, and very humid. I wanted to try out some places I don't usually go to so I decided to drive up to the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel (CBBT) and over to the Eastern Shore. I stopped at the first island (South Thimble Island) of the CBBT to see if any birds could be seen but it was mostly Laughing and Ring-billed Gulls, with one lone Least Sandpiper walking around down on the rocks at the north end of the island. So I quickly hopped back in the car and kept heading north on the bridge-tunnel complex. While crossing Fisherman Island, the typical Black Vultures could be seen perched atop all the highway light posts, and I did see a Great Blue Heron, and one goose of some type off in the marsh as I drove past at 55 mph. When I reached the Eastern Shore, the first place I stopped was Eastern Shore National Wildlife Refuge where I pulled into the lot near the visitor center. From the visitor center, there is a short (1/2 mile or so) trail, the Butterfly Trail, that more or less follows the highway but then goes to a secluded view of the inner marshes of the Atlantic. While walking, I had a number of songbirds cruise on past me, most of which looked like Eastern Kingbirds and American Robins. The trail hits a junction, where folks can walk to the rest area off the highway next to the toll booths, so I walked down this short trail also. Here I had a nice view of some kingbirds, and a new one for me this year, some Baltimore Orioles! The orioles didn't stick around long, and quickly flew off into deep brush, as did the other birds nearby. I saw a pair of Common Yellowthroats showing their lack of breeding plumage, but again they disappeared quickly into the brush.

The same Marbled Godwit in flight after a pair of walkers walked too close to it.

Continuing on down the trail, I stopped at the overlook, and was delighted to find a Snowy Egret and a White Ibis juvenile wandering around the nearest tidal creek finger. After that I headed back to the car and then drove off north down the Seaside Road to my next stop, Magothy Bay Natural Area Preserve. This park, half of which is a reclaimed farm field converted to songbird habitat, and half of which is maritime forest and marsh. I stopped here the first time back in the winter, when it wasn't overgrown, and there were no mosquitoes. This outing was the opposite, as both overgrown trails and bugs were quite prevalent. It was still plenty walkable, but I was walking faster than usual to avoid the bugs. While walking through the songbird habitat I didn't see much of anything other than some Common Buckeye butterflies. When I reached the woods it was also pretty quiet, but things picked up when I reached the shoreline levee system. The levees keep freshwater behind them, allowing it to spill out to the brackish marsh when it reaches a set elevation. This allows birds to use the freshwater when they need it. I saw a Spotted Sandpiper, and a Great Blue Heron around this area, and a large number of White Ibis flying out over Magothy Bay. Additionally, there were quite a few Laughing Gulls sitting on the dry marsh. From the marsh, the trail heads back inland through woodland and again across the songbird habitat. While transitioning from the woodland to the songbird habitat I saw two American Kestrels perched on a power pole line, for just a few moments before they quickly flew off into the trees.

Willet on the left, and Marbled Godwit on the right, showing off the difference in size between these two species!

Curiously, they were sitting right next to a pair of Mourning Doves, which I guess are large enough birds to have no fear of the similarly sized Kestrels. There is a property located along the south edge of this area where the owner apparently has a large herd of goats, and also has several Indian Peafowl that roam free, so if you're ever in the area and see or hear them, they belong to that property and will wander freely around. Made it back to the vehicle and again took off north down the Seaside Road. After a very short drive I found another pair of American Kestrels, again perched on a power line but along the main road this time. I took the Seaside Road all the way up to the village of Oyster, which sits right on a tidal estuary the flows out to the protected sound to the east. I saw a few gulls in the area, but nothing of any real interest so I turned around and drove back south, making a stop off on Magotha Road, which is known to house a population of Eurasion Collared Doves, though I didn't see any. I did see two large flocks of White Ibis, and an Osprey up in a tree nearby, but nothing out of the ordinary for the Eastern Shore this time of the year. I made one final stop off at the Eastern Shore NWR, just to walk the Butterfly Trail again to hopefully catch some more orioles. This time I parked at the opposite end of the trail, but didn't find any birds really at all, so I guess they must be more active in the park earlier in the morning, will have to remember that for next time. 

Common Yellowthroat starting to lose it's breeding plumage (black around face disappearing) seen at Eastern Shore NWR on Sunday!

Week Ending August 24, 2014

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There was a lot of excitement around Hampton Roads this week, despite the poor weather for getting out and taking photographs of wildlife. Early in the week, a large whale, yes, a whale, was sighted in the Southern Branch of the Elizabeth River. Unfortunately, later in the week, by Thursday it had been discovered washed up along a tributary bank and wasn't moving. The Virginia Aquarium's Stranding Team then moved in and announced that the whale had passed. Crews eventually moved the body up to Craney Island where it would be given an autopsy by the aquarium staff to determine the cause of death. Whales are quite common along the coastline of Virginia Beach, but to see one so far inland is a rare event. The species, a Sei Whale, has also washed up on shore in Oceanview in Norfolk a couple years ago. The Elizabeth River whale turned out to be a younger female, measuring a massive 45 feet in length. While this was the big news, some other interesting sightings did occur as well. Folks on Listserver have been reporting sightings of Black Terns along the beachfront at Back Bay (Ron Furnish & Keith Roberts), as well as a sighting of a Lark Sparrow at Back Bay NWR by Ron Furnish! I unfortunately did not get out in the field much, having only hiked First Landing State Park on Sunday morning, but not finding a whole lot of wildlife due to the intense northeasterly wind we've been seeing over the past few days. 

The view from 64th Street out over the Atlantic Ocean, very churned up from northeasterly winds.

Week Ending August 17, 2014

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Over the past few weeks I've been donating all my spare time to the creation of this website, so hiking & photography time has seemed to go by the wayside most evenings. This week I made it out for my first adventure on Friday, thanks to having taken the day off so that my girlfriend Ruth & I could make her Saturday birthday into a 3-day weekend. Friday morning, we headed down to Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge and after letting Ruth off at Little Island Park in Sandbridge so she could spend her morning on the beach, I got to the parking area around 9 AM. This time of year, the East Dike Trail is open through the eastern corridor of the park, so I walked that way to begin. The 9 AM tram to False Cape State Park was just leaving as I was out hiking on the Loop Road, so I went to the west side so as to avoid it. Along the East Dike today I encountered a large number of Southern Leopard Frogs sitting along the ditches and the roadway itself. Birds were again scarce as I walked the dike. Most of the ones I saw were Great and Snowy Egrets, Little Blue Herons, and White Ibis. Since the vegetation is at it's max growth this time of year out in the impoundment areas to the west of the trail it is very difficult to spot birds. Also, this time of year the ducks are all in molt, and out hiding amongst the marsh grasses out of sight while they re-grow their flight feathers. So all this makes for a quiet walk, however, I did see a number of Osprey overhead, which is pretty typical in the park.

Tall, lengthy shorebirds like this Willet are being seen on beaches all over the region right now as they make their way southward in the coming weeks for migration. 

I ended up walking the trail all the way into False Cape State Park to the south til the trail turns at the visitor's center. From the visitor center, the trail goes east towards the beach, or west further into the state park. This time I headed towards the beach with the goal of viewing shorebirds on the trip back north to the Back Bay parking area. As with the few walks I've done recently, the similar birds were all present. Shorebirds seen on the beach included (in order of number) Sanderlings, Willets, Ruddy Turnstones, Semipalmated Plover, and Black-bellied Plovers. In the air, Brown Pelicans, Royal Terns, Laughing, Ring-billed, Herring, and Great Black-backed Gulls were seen. I didn't notice any ducks, geese, or cormorants this time out, so I'm hoping the Black Scoter I saw on the beach last week ended up getting away, and wasn't injured. When I reached the north end of the beach and headed over the dunes towards the Loop Road, there was a stream of Tree Swallows flying over the marshes. They seem to be grouping up right now in the park, probably getting clumped up so in a few weeks they can begin their southbound migration along the Outer Banks. For now, they're just in high numbers sitting on the power lines that run parallel to the trails on the east side. In the same area I saw a couple of Indigo Buntings, and photographed a female Blue Grosbeak in the brush. I finished up on the Bay Trail but didn't encounter any songbirds today, so I headed up to Little Island and cooled off in the water for about an hour before heading back for a late lunch. 

Bottlenose Dolphins were quite active along the Virginia Beach Oceanfront over the weekend. Many a kayaker, boater, and onshore photographer got to see them in action as they played in the water while hunting fish. 

Saturday was Ruth's birthday so we spent the day at the north end of Virginia Beach. I walked up around Cape Henry trying to take photographs of shorebirds, but instead was greeted to a large number of Bottlenose Dolphins playing around just offshore. There must have been over a dozen of them out there this time, and a few of them made runs within about 50 feet of shore. Photographing the dolphins is a challenge though, especially since they weren't really breaching the surface completely. Often times, by the time you could see their dorsal fins, that was it, and they'd dive back down. So I probably spent about an hour attempting to get the best shots that I could, and I did finally get some decent ones. So afterwards I decided to get out in the water, and it was great for about 20 minutes. Then, Ruth said she felt something brush her leg, and I made the mistake of saying that there was nothing out there that would bother us. And then I felt it scrape my leg as well, but I figured it was just some debris, or seaweed as it felt rigid. Then, the stinging started and it became clear very quickly that was neither debris, nor seaweed. It was instead, my first experience getting stung by a Sea Nettle, also known as a jellyfish. It managed to get both of my ankles before I got out of the way, and once on the beach, I got to see my ankles start to swell, and look white & puffy like when you get a beesting. And that'd actually exactly what this felt like, continuously getting stung by bees for a few hours before it did finally go away. I did learn a good lesson this time though, as the age old apparent "myth" that urine helps the sting go away, proved false, and when I got home I read up that pouring vinegar across it would help the sting, and I think it did more than any urine did.

The standard bird that you've all seen chasing the waves back and forth as they hunt for small invertebrates to dine on: the Sanderling!

Anyways though, after I got out of the water, I did do some walking just to keep busy, and photographed a number of Sanderlings and one very cooperative Willet that played in the water near where Ruth & I had set up. I didn't notice anyone else along the beach screaming or getting out quickly from the water, so I'm guessing this was a completely isolated case of a jellyfish that was just royally pissed off. And with the clarity of the water at the oceanfront being about an inch, I never did get to see my assailant. I did get back into the water for a bit afterwards, but it wasn't quite as relaxing as it usually is for me. This is really only the 3rd animal encounter I've ever had while off the coast here. The first was at Sandbridge a couple years ago when Ruth & I saw a Stingray swim by us, fluttering like a butterfly under water. The second was a few weeks ago when a Blue Crab pinched my foot while I was standing still in the water. So they've seemed to be progressing. Hopefully a shark attack is not in my future at this rate. After getting out of the water for the 2nd time, I sat down in the chair, in a spot where the water was washing over my foot which felt great, but then again, I felt something on me. This time on my back. Thinking it was a Deer fly I waited to hit it, but then it bit me, so I slapped it. I pulled the bug around my shoulder so I could see just what it was, and it was a black and orange spider. Not sure what I did to piss off the gods, but that was 2 stings by animals I didn't ever have bites from in the past. So that was it for me, we left the beach a few minutes later. Wildlife 2, Rob 0.

Another shot of a Willet at the Oceanfront from the weekend. This one was quite inquisitive and spent a lot of time darting in and out of the waves as they crashed onto the beach.

After getting home from the beach, there was some posts on the listserver about a sighting of a Ruff in Virginia Beach, that had been seen Friday by Robert Ake. A Ruff is a species of shorebird that is not seen in our area very often, but shows up along the East Coast most often in the fall. I could not find another sighting on eBird for Virginia Beach, which makes this a pretty rare species. Because of this, I decided to get out late in the morning on Sunday to try and find it. It was seen in the Princess Anne Wildlife Managment Area's Whitehurst Tract down in Pungo near the western shore of Back Bay. So I arrived at the site just before noon, and wasn't surprised to find that there was already another vehicle in the lot as well. The vehicle was marked with a decal of the VSO (Virginia Ornithological Society), so I knew the occupants were obviously there for the same reason as me. Earlier in the morning, Jim Marcum and David Clark both independently confirmed the Ruff was still around, so hopes were high. The vehicle driver turned out to be a Chesapeake birder named Dave. We ended up walking through the high brushy trail back to where the Ruff had been spotted and searched together, me with my 400mm lens, and he with his binoculars. We saw a large number of shorebirds on the impoundment at the northernmost end of what is referred to as "Area 2" on the the Whitehurst Tract map, but none of them were the Ruff. Shorebirds I could identify were Killdeer, Semipalmated Plover, Least Sandpiper, Western/Semipalmated Sandpiper, Solitary Sandpiper, Lesser & Greater Yellowlegs, and there was the potential for Pectoral and Stilt Sandpipers but they were just out of range of my lens. We also saw a number of Cattle and Snowy Egrets, a couple Great Egrets, a lone juvenile Great Blue Heron, and a number of immature Tricolored Herons. We searched for probably an hour and a half before heading back north towards the vehicles. Along the way back we also got to add Red-tailed Hawk, and I saw two juvenile White Ibis flying far out over the fields as well. It was interesting since this was my very first outing to this facility, but it was too bad we couldn't relocate the bird.

A beautiful Snowy Egret (note black bill, yellow face, and black/yellow legs) seen at Whitehurst Tract of Princess Anne Wildlife Management Area in Virginia Beach while hunting for the rare Ruff that was sighted.

Thus far, while rarity chasing, I've only been able to re-spot the King Eider that was at Rudee Inlet last winter, all other birds I've made attempts on have ended up eluding me. And this is why I prefer to go hiking to far away places, where someday I can be the one spotting the rarity first (like the Iceland Gull I saw last March in Back Bay NWR). To me, this is much more fun, though hearing about a rarity does get me excited even if I don't go after it. After missing out on the Ruff, the sun came out over General Booth Boulevard while I was heading home, so I decided to give the afternoon a shot at some more hiking. I ended up driving past the oceanfront, and up Shore Drive en route to Pleasure House Point, hoping to hit it at low tide. While crossing the Lesner Bridge, which is now under construction, and it looks like soon the lanes will be dropped by one, I noticed the tide was definitely closer to high tide since there was no exposed mudflats out in the bay. This view has long been my favorite view in Virginia Beach, I love looking out over the estuary and seeing the backside of my own neighborhood across the way. I parked off Dinwiddie this time, next to Loch Haven Park so I could get out onto the main point faster. Many folks were out fishing & crabbing, and it appears that the dock for the Chesapeake Bay Foundation Center has been constructed, but is still roped off to public use. The building itself looks to be nearing completion on the exterior as well, so it'll probably open soon. I still don't understand why they chose to power the building with wind turbines, which are known to kill migrating birds, but, its probably still better than if the whole park had been developed into condos like it almost did a few years ago.

This is an immature Yellow-crowned Night-Heron, one of the most common wading birds you'll find at Pleasure House Point. The nice thing about the 'wading birds' is that unlike 'shorebirds', they'll be around even at high tide thanks to their longer legs that enable them to hunt all day long in the shallows.

Anyway, I'm off topic here, so I walked the park east to west, then back west to east. Along the way, I saw a dark sparrow and couldn't get it's photo before it darted into the marsh grasses. I did find some Yellow-crowned Night-Herons, immatures, and a few Great Egrets out in the marsh as well. Unfortunately, by not arriving at low tide, any small shorebirds and any Clapper Rails had no mudflats to walk amongst, which means there weren't any to be seen in the open. While walking back, I got a good look at a young Green Heron, that stayed motionless on it's branch perch near the water. As I was walking past it, another sparrow bolted from the grass and flew across the small creek. I managed to get some fuzzy shots of it while in the shade of the thick brush, and thanks to Ned Brinkley, was able to confirm it was a juvenile Seaside Sparrow, a lifer for me! From all my field guides, including the one Ned wrote personally, I was sold on it being a Saltmarsh Sparrow, but when someone of his knowledge level states otherwise, I'll listen. So the week ended well for me, having a new lifer to add to my list, despite missing out on the apparently now gone Ruff (noone else has reported seeing it, and I still don't believe all the ones of people finding it the same morning I went looking, but that's another issue). I'll gladly look forward to the next week of being outdoors, though I hope for some cooler weather. 

Another of the waders, although the smallest one you're likely to find at Pleasure House Point, this is a Green Heron. I've seen quite a number of them at the park over the past couple of weeks, and they don't appear to frightened by humans.