Week Ending August 2, 2015

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Hot, summer weather continued this week, with almost all the days reaching 90 degrees. On Friday evening again, I walked the beach to False Cape State Park's northern boundary as I've done the past couple of Fridays now. The 90+ degree temperature was enough to make it a tougher than normal walk, but the abundance of birds made it well worthwhile. No Piping Plovers were seen for the first time in the three ‘Fall migration’ outings, but I did spot a pair of Killdeers, one of whom was on the beach & quite a surprise to see there! Semipalmated Plovers were observed in higher numbers this week than last, with 13 individuals counted. So far, no Black-bellied Plovers have showed up to the beach as of yet. Nearing the False Cape line I watched a group of large shorebirds lift off from the beach and fly south, most of the birds were clearly Willets, showing the bright white & black wing patterns even at a significant distance, but I just couldn't make out what the other birds were since they were headed away from me, not showing their bills. They were either Whimbrels (more likely), or Marbled Godwits (less likely but a possibility). Either species would have been an excellent add to this list of birds though if I could have just seen more of them. Sanderlings were again the dominant species along the beaches, which should continue through Fall. Their numbers were likely in excess of my rough estimate of 300 birds, and Willets were in similar numbers to last week at about 35 birds. A single Ruddy Turnstone also was noted about 50 feet across the border into False Cape State Park, and then the bird suddenly flew northward, which was a relief to me as I then didn't have to create a second eBird checklist for the sighting in False Cape, and then start a third for my trip north in Back Bay so the times all worked properly. Thank you Turnstone for making life a bit easier on me with just the 1 checklist being needed.  Terns (Royal, Common, Sandwich, Caspian, Least) in descending order of number seen,Gulls (Laughing, Lesser Black-backed, Ring-billed, Great Black-backed, Herring), and a single Black Skimmer were all observed. No Black Terns which again were my hope, though it is still early as most sightings here in past years according to eBird are mid to late August, but, keeping my fingers crossed each week. Osprey were out in huge numbers today and were never out of sight. Brown Pelicans were in typical numbers at about 15 or so. No waterfowl of any species seen which was a relief after the injured White-winged Scoter I saw a couple weeks ago, and the injured Common Eider seen back in June were both picked up by a local rehabber on Sunday after both were re-sighted up on the North Mile of the beach by refuge staff. Hopefully no more of these very beautiful out of range ducks are found injured this summer along the beach.

A very cooperative White-tailed Deer fawn seen at Back Bay NWR on Friday evening!

On Saturday, I got out to an early start, heading out before 7 AM, I ran out to Princess Anne Wildlife Management Area (Whitehurst Tract) to check for shorebirds, and for the first time in the last couple of weekends I regret to mention that I was a bit disappointed. Of course, I was only disappointed since the last couple of weeks the variety & counts have been pretty firm, but they appeared to take a step backward this weekend, which could probably be chalked up to many reasons. While working my way around the southern group of impoundments counter-clockwise (hugging west edge towards south, then east, then north along the east boundary) in order to keep the sunlight positioned properly for my arrival to the northernmost impoundment that has held the shorebirds recently. To my astonishment though, I noted only four Spotted Sandpipers out on the impoundment. I could hear a Killdeer calling elsewhere, and did eventually run into a few of them further north, but not seeing any here were last week at least a dozen were, was quite a surprise. In fact, the previous visit to the impoundment yielded Least, Solitary, & Spotted Sandpipers, and the dozen or so Killdeer. So for the first time in my several weeks of checking this spot out, the numbers had dropped considerably when they should be increasing. My goal for the walk (as it has been the last couple of weeks) was to spot my first Pectoral Sandpipers of the year, but unfortunately that goal was unmet again this weekend. Perhaps in a week or two they'll start showing up at this site, which seems a perfect habitat, and one that I saw a couple (though at the time was unable to properly ID and have since done so via photographs). I am sure there are plenty of spots throughout Virginia where Pectorals are common, especially during their migration when essentially 'anything goes', however, I haven't yet found any members of the species here that I can count for my 'County Big Year' which still sits at 182 species, with my goal from the start of the year being to identify 200 species by sight. Even if I don't manage to find them here in Virginia Beach this year, the attempt at seeing as many birds as I can here in my home city/county equivalent has definitely challenged me to learn as much as I can about each species and I feel that through the outings & the writings I've tried to share afterwards have surely helped to increase my knowledge of the birds that are found in this region.

Showing its reddish bill & feet, and grayish chest & belly, this is a Common Tern, seen in flight at Back Bay NWR!

But, I'd still like to spot some Pectorals, given that I did see them here last mid-August when seeking out the Ruff that Bob Ake initially spotted. Another Ruff would also be a great bird to see for the first time, but I’m not holding my breath for that one since they’re quite rare up and down the East Coast in the Fall time. I purchased “The Shorebird Guide” this past week, and it has been a fun one to study, and is definitely helping this time of year with those birds being the first migrants to show up in our area. In addition to that book, last week I had purchased “The Warbler Guide”, and “The Sibley Guide to Bird Life and Behavior” which goes well beyond just the simpler field identification skills, and focuses more on teaching birders things like migration patterns, what birds eat and why, what habitats species typically use and why, and how to properly be able to tell the age of birds based on feather wear and changed in molt. Incredibly interesting stuff, and I already feel a lot smarter in just a week or so of using it as a reference. I’d recommend it to anyone looking to learn more about birds than just the ability to identify species in the field. Also of importance, I did not hear the Bobwhites during this outing that I've heard while out the last couple of weeks. Perhaps they aren't happy with someone stopping in each week to check them out, and are instead used to this area being a dead zone for birders until mid-August as the eBird reports suggest. With checking the park each week through these hot, summer months, I realize why most folks tend to avoid this area in summertime since the activity of most birds, and the variety of species tends to die down after most were already observed during the springtime.

Still showing some breeding colors, this Ruddy Turnstone is starting its molting period and will lose some of its brightness soon.

I know that not everyone birds according to a list of sorts, or a # of species goal for the year, but the descending amount of activity, and the increase in ticks/chiggers at the park must have something to do with other birders' lack of observations posted for the park during the heat of summer, or so I speculate. And I must say, they are right to do so, as the ticks can get quite bad in this area throughout the hot, humid summers. Fortunately, I've only pulled a few of the blood-suckers out of me this year, relying heavily on high % Deet to keep them off me, but still finding a few individuals unaffected by my efforts to thwart them. A risk that is taken in the name of observing birds though, and therefore, a worthwhile one. After the hour at at PAWMA, I headed back towards home, but quickly changed the itinerary, realizing it might be an opportune time to target a bird I still haven't seen here in my home county, the Hairy Woodpecker. This attempt unfortunately, as with the attempt at Black Terns and Pectoral Sandpipers, also proved futile, as very little bird activity was observed within the roughly 2-mile figure-8 loop through the forests. Upon exiting the forest though, and walking back towards my vehicle, I met up with another birder, Una Davenhill, and was delighted to see several species while chatting, including at least 3 Eastern Wood-Pewees, which while they are plenty common birds, they are a species I've only seen once so far within the Virginia Beach boundaries this year so I consider them quite a catch. We also noted some Carolina Chickadees, Tufted Titmice, Pine Warblers, Blue-gray Gnatcatchers, Ruby-throated Hummingbirds, Chipping Sparrows, Red-bellied Woodpeckers, and a Great Egret while standing still in the forested area between the hiking & golf course parking areas. I had plans to swing by Pleasure House Point afterwards, but it was already in the 90s by 10:30 AM, and I was ready to just head home to lay down. I will try to check out PAWMA again next week just to give an idea of what species are seen there since it appears to be an area not many eBirders arrive at during August, unless there is a Ruff present!

A pair of Willets in flight against the beautiful backdrop of the surging coastal wave break!

On Sunday, Ruth & I headed up to the town of Irvington up on the Northern Neck (in Lancaster County), where the owner of her company was hosting a 2-day picnic for the full-time staff and their guests. She was even kind enough to put everyone up in the nearby Tides Inn, which was a really neat hotel, and happened to be less than a mile away from her own property. Situated right on a cove of the Rappahannock River, the hotel offered free usage of bicycles, kayaks, paddleboards, sailboats, motor boats, etc. Ruth tried the paddle board for a bit & I did a little kayaking in a two-seater since it was the only one available. Not long into it, she decided to hop in with me in the kayak since the paddleboard was a bit unnerving, so we pulled back up onto the dock to get her loaded up. Unfortunately, the lady that launched us back into the water from the dock pushed us so the back end went angled into the water, rather than on top of it, and we quickly started to fill with water from the back side until the kayak sank with us still sitting in it. We had to swim back to shore, only 50 feet away, but pushing the swamped kayak back and getting it up-righted was a bit of a challenge. After spending a good chunk of my life paddling in canoes in northern Minnesota, I can see that my first kayak experience was a bit tougher than I expected. Even the feel of paddling in one is just a lot different than canoes, using different muscles since you sit so much lower towards the water. After our swamping of the kayak, we just spent the afternoon at the pool rather than swimming in the river. Just walking around the grounds of the hotel, I could hear Pine Warblers calling, lots of Ospreys out over the cove, and we saw a few Cottontail rabbits as well. We spent the evening over at her boss’ property, situated on a point of the cove and featuring some pretty amazing views of the water. Despite our unanticipated swim earlier in the day, I was really glad we got the chance to spent time up at the hotel, definitely a spot I’d like to go back too sometime. Now that is is August, the shorebird migration should really start to kick into high gear, so hopefully this coming week is a good one, featuring some interesting sights. It’d be nice to get back on pace for my 200 species after not picking up any now the last couple of weeks. 

Showing up this week in better numbers, the Semipalmated Plovers have really begun to arrive at Back Bay NWR!

Week Ending July 26, 2015

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With our heat wave in southeastern Virginia slightly abating on Wednesday with highs "just" in the upper 80s, I got out on my first outdoor venture of the week & headed up to Pleasure House Point to check for some arriving shorebirds. Low tide had been hitting just before sunset the previous couple of days, so after-work walks were positioned fairly well for the possibility of seeing shorebirds on the sandbars and mudflats, as long as recreational boaters hadn't scared them all off, which at this point in the year is sadly a typical occurrence. With strong northerly winds, the water levels were a bit higher than they should typically be as low tide approached. I parked on Marlin Bay Drive as usual on my evening walks and headed into the park, turning eastward along the shoreline. Yellow-crowned Night-Herons were quite numerous, though not out of the ordinary for the park this time of year. Tricolored Herons were again encountered, though again only juveniles and no brightly colored adults like I had hoped for. When I reached the main point there was a good collection of birds out on the flats including Gulls (dominated by Laughing, with many young Herring, and a few Great Black-backed), Terns (Royal, with several Caspians, Commons & Forster's, and even a pair of Sandwich), 8 American Oystercatchers, several Black Skimmers and 1 Short-billed Dowitcher all on the near flat. This is probably the most diversity of species I have seen so far on such a small sandbar at the park. The Caspian Tern especially was a really nice surprise since all of the ones I have encountered thus far in 2015 in Virginia Beach have been very distant views. This one though, I was able to get some shots of it standing on the sandbar and also some in-flight photographs. As the water levels were dropping slowly, I decided to walk back west across the park, and come back eastward again to give the water some time to drop. Upon my return to the point, now on the further flat due to kayakers near the closer flat, I located 3 Semipalmated Plovers which are the first noted on eBird at the park, and in Virginia Beach since May. These birds were anticipated to arrive to the coastal plain of Virginia according to the ‘Gold Book’ (Virginia’s Birdlife: An Annotated Checklist) on July 25, so these were just a couple days early from the predicted date, always nice to ‘beat the book’ or so it is referred. On the nearby salt meadows, Killdeer were encountered, rounding out the shorebird species. In addition to the shorebirds seen, other wading birds including Green Herons, Great Egrets, and even a pair of Snowy Egrets were also present. It is a good time of year to walk the easily accessible trails, and be able to see a wide array of species around the shorelines.

Juvenile Tricolored Herons continue to seen in good numbers at Pleasure House Point!

After a Thursday evening break to catch back up with my photographs, and because it was about 90 degrees out, I got back outdoors on Friday after work. At 3 PM I headed southeast towards Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge, arriving at about 3:40 PM. Foregoing the trails around the visitor center, I quickly walked south down the Loop Road and took the boardwalk over to the beach. The East Dike Trail is now open, but I haven’t yet walked it, choosing instead to walk the beaches the past two weeks due to the shorebird migration. Walking south along the beach proved much more difficult this week since the high tide was essentially in, and the beach was either wet, loose sand, or it was tire treads, and even more loose further up near the dunes. When the tide is lower, it is much easier to walk since the drying of the sand inundated by the high tide begins to dry and densify when the low tide approaches. Since the tides slip about 50 minutes forward each day (if tonight’s high tide was at 5 PM, tomorrow’s would be around 5:50 PM give or take a few minutes), every other Friday will yield a trip at the low tide, and the in between Fridays will be on the high tides. So with a tougher walk, I was finding myself a bit more tired than the last week, and so I took a few less photographs. Also, since the tide was higher, and less beach was available, the birds tend to be wearier since you are closer to them most of the time due to the drop in width of the exposed beach. With all this though, there was still plenty of birds to be seen. About a mile south of the parking area is when the collections of shorebirds began to coalesce into larger masses.

The distinctive white marking of the Willet in flight at Back Bay NWR!

Sanderlings were by far the most numerous species of the day, probably numbering well over 100. In a not-so-distant second place though were the Willets, of which I saw potentially 50 or more, but I didn’t keep an accurate count.  Offshore from the beach I got to view something for the very first time! There were several dark colorations extending a hundred or more feet along the coastline, almost looking like the ‘shadow’ of a whale beneath the surface. However, it wasn’t a whale, or any marine mammal at that. The dark colorations were schools of tightly packed baitfish that were situated along the beach. Along the surface above the shoals of fish, splashes were occurring all over the place, presumably caused by predatory fish that were attacking the schools from below, and either the baitfish were jumping, or the predators were at times overshooting their intended targets. At one point, even a few Dolphins moved through the school, thrashing on the surface and slapping their tails! My camera is not equipped to photograph this type of action at this distance effectively, but it sure was fun to watch through my binoculars. I encountered more and more schools as I moved south, and on the trip north got to watch some of the same action again. Though, on the way back, the terns were getting a little more involved, diving from high up in the air, downward right into the schools. It reminded me of a film I’d seen on Africa’s ‘Wild Coast’ at Nauticus with my mother & step-father a year ago which focused on how the dolphins, gannets, and other fish can decimate the shoals of Sardines during their migration along the southeastern coast of Africa. Back to the birds though, in addition to the Sanderlings and Willets, on the southbound trip I saw one Spotted Sandpiper that flew out over the water quickly, a pair of peeps that were likely Western Sandpipers, but I couldn’t tell for certain, and at least 1 Semipalmated Sandpiper. I ended up walking all the way to the sign located at the boundary between False Cape State Park and Back Bay NWR, a one way distance from the visitor contact station of about 3.4 miles.

A Common Tern in flight along the shoreline at Back Bay on Friday evening!

At this point, I made the turn back towards the north, now with the ocean & shoreline at my right. This tends to make it a bit tougher for me to quickly grab photographs since I have to pivot my body and shoot to the right, which isn’t as natural for a right-handed person who prefers to shoot to the left (left hand holds lens up, right hand works the camera body). On the northbound trip, I ran into the same groups of Sanderlings & Willets, though about a mile or so south of the parking area, I spotted a Semipalmated Plover higher up on the beach and to my amazement, it was in the company of a much whiter, equally sized & shaped bird, a Piping Plover! According to my field guide ‘The Sibley Guide to Birds’, there are an estimated less than 10,000 of these plovers left in North America, landing them on the endangered species list. Though, this is the 4th time this year I’ve encountered at least one at Back Bay NWR, which makes it the best place in Virginia Beach to spot them. Seeing this particular one in the same spot essentially that I ran into one last week leads me to suspect it to be the same bird though I can’t prove that since the bird didn’t have any distinctive individual marks or bands. Getting the chance to observe the two species of plovers side by side was also a very interesting experience, they just appear so similar outside of their feather colors. Other birds seen that could be considered shorebirds were the Terns (Least, Forster's, Common, Sandwich, and Royal), and Gulls (Laughing, Ring-billed & Lesser Black-backed). Of these species, the Royal Terns were clearly the most common, and were seen continuously along the hike in both directions.  I did not run into the injured White-winged Scoter that I saw there last Friday, nor the Whimbrel unfortunately, though it was only sighted by one other person after me on Saturday (Jim Marcum). I would come to find out later that Karen Roberts, a local rehabber, was able to locate and pick up the wounded White-winged Scoter on the ‘north mile’ of the beach which is closed to hikers.

Two species of plovers, the Semipalmated Plover at lower left, and the Piping Plover at upper right at Back Bay NWR!

The park permitted her to go out to get the bird, and also a female Common Eider that also was injured and seeking refuge on the uninhabited beach. I had contacted Karen last weekend to let her know about the scoter, mentioning that its wing was injured. The bird she picked up had the same injury, and being a female White-winged Scoter, it was pretty much mathematically impossible that it wasn’t the same bird. So hopefully she or the vets can do something for the bird to help it heal, it is always sad to find injured animals. I first met Karen through the HRWE group on Facebook, but didn’t meet in person until I saw a driver clip an Opossum one morning about 2 years ago while driving towards Back Bay. The poor animal didn’t know hit him, and suffered a broken jaw, something that couldn’t be fixed unfortunately, though at least it was able to be cared for a few days before it had to be put down. I sincerely hope the scoter and eider are able to be taken care of & make a comeback, as I’d love to see them healthy along the beach someday. Again, I stray off topic, but as for the birds, I didn’t locate any Black Terns, which were the species I was targeting, as they’re the most ‘common’ species as far as sightings go in Virginia Beach that I have yet to see this year. Actually, Black Terns are a bird I have only seen once, and it was in Minnesota at the northern end of Low Lake north of the town of Ely. I spotted a pair of these in what I believe was 1996 when I was only 13 years old, and my father and I had paddled a loop from Fenske Lake to Bass Lake. I’ve yet to see the species here in Virginia Beach, so it wouldn’t just be a new year bird for me in the county, it’d be a new all-time county bird, as well as a state bird, and a life bird if I could photograph one. So the next time I come out I really hope to again give it my best shot at seeing one. Walking from the beach back to the parking area I did see some Blue Grosbeaks, tons of European Starlings, and a big flock of Purple Martins also, raising the species count. Heading home a bit later than normal, I came home to an empty apartment as my fiancé was away in Charleston, SC for the weekend, and so I got to cook up my own meal, eating a bit later than normal as a result. After dinner I pretty much went to bed so I could get back up early on Saturday and give it another go.

A little more detail on the very small & dainty Piping Plover seen at Back Bay NWR on Friday evening!

On Saturday morning, I headed down to Princess Anne Wildlife Management Area’s Whitehurst Tract, just as I had done the previous Saturday after another Back Bay Friday hike. Duplicating the walks gives me a nice comparison of what birds have shown up to the area each week, and will help refine where I go next year throughout the year. In essence, it will allow me to be more efficient with what birds I target, though I put considerable thought in already, there is no substitute for the actual experience. As with Back Bay, the shorebirds at Whitehurst were a bit more numerous this week than last Saturday, with a better variety including my first bird on the day, a Greater Yellowlegs that was seen along the entry trail. When I reached the impoundments it became evident that the loop going around the western, northern, and middle cells had been cut, so the grass was no longer chest or neck high as it has been in some parts throughout the summer. With the lower grass, it allowed for easier walking, though I still sprayed from head to toe to prevent ticks and chiggers which can be numerous in the heat of summer, especially in meadow/grassland environments. In walking around the middle cell, it put me in the right spot (southeastern corner) of the northern cell, putting the sunlight behind me, meaning the birds had to look into the sun to see me, though of course they’re still able to better than a person in the same situation. Out on the pond there was at least four Solitary Sandpipers, the most I have ever seen at once time before, quite a surprise! I have been hoping to spot a Pectoral Sandpiper here the past couple weeks as they move through the region on their southbound migration but Saturday unfortunately wasn’t the day. Killdeer were quite numerous with about ten of them being seen near the Solitary Sandpipers, and a few peep species were also noted, though too distant to be identified properly.

A pair of Atlantic Bottlenose Dolphins moves through the water while chasing one of many large school of baitfish visible from shore at Back Bay!

Walking from the southern cells back around the park to the north I did hear the Northern Bobwhite call a couple times but it was short-lived, I feel I am destined to not see this sly fellow, though I still welcome the calls. From the farmhouse at the northeast corner, I walked as usual back along the roadway, seeing 4. Orchard Orioles (1 male and 3 either female, or young males) and several Blue Grosbeaks, and Indigo Buntings. Some other surprise during the walk were a flyover by a Cattle Egret & a juvenile Yellow-crowned Night-Heron that perched up in a tree right where the southern and northern halves of the park meet at a choke point. I’ve seen Cattle Egrets here prior, but not reliably, and the Yellow-crown was a first for me at the park I believe. After exiting the park I spent some time just driving around southern Virginia Beach, heading down Back Bay Landing Road to get a look at the other portion of the Princess Anne WMA. I drove slowly down several roads adjacent to farm fields thinking perhaps I’d hear the call of a Grasshopper Sparrow. But, all the farm fields are very grown up right now, whether they be soy bean fields, or cornfields, it’d be pretty tough to spot some of the species that can be found on them during the spring or winter such as the Meadowlarks, Horned Larks, or grassland sparrows such as the Grasshopper. After driving for a bit around Pungo and just enjoying the beautiful day, I headed down Pungo Ferry Road over to Blackwater Road, and then south towards Milldam Creek’s Boardwalk (built by The Nature Conservancy). This is the site that I’ve had good luck in locating Green Treefrogs when it is too hot out to go birding more or less. So I walked the boardwalk, spotting a record 7 Green Treefrogs in the process! Most of them were very young frogs, only a half inch or so in length, and barely visible against the green reeds while not moving. Only a couple of the frogs were sizeable, though still probably 2 or 3 inches in total length. Grasshoppers of several species, including Two-striped, were common, and dragonflies were extremely numerous. Black-and-Yellow Garden Spiders were encountered again as well. Birds were pretty quiet here, though a pair of Wood Ducks was seen in flight, and Common Yellowthroats and Indigo Buntings were heard & seen respectively. Turkey Vultures were also seen overhead, but there was no sign of the hopeful Least Bittern I’ve been waiting to find in this environment all year. So of the 4 birds I was targeting this weekend, Black Terns, Pectoral Sandpipers, Least Bittern and Grasshopper Sparrow, I struck out on all 4. However, each of these species are very unreliable and tough to find, most showing up in about 1-2% of all eBird reports from Virginia Beach, meaning I have a 1 in 50-100 chance of finding them for any particular checklist location, not very good odds.

When I first saw the dark markings on the back, I thought I might have my first Black Tern, however, this is actually a juvenile Least Tern that just hasn't molted yet.

On Sunday, I got going a bit later than Saturday, but again made a dash for Whitehurst Tract. En route, I got a message from Karen & Tom Beatty that they were heading that way, so I called them and let them know I’d meet them there. We walked the same general trails as I had on Saturday, and I was excited that one of the Solitary Sandpipers remained in the same location and Karen was able to see it, that was her bird of interest for the morning. While viewing, I also had a Spotted Sandpiper, a Least Sandpiper, and at least a dozen Killdeer out in the same impoundment. So things have definitely gotten better this weekend at the park. We heard and saw a few Indigo Buntings and Blue Grosbeaks, with Common Yellowthroats and Field Sparrows calling all across the park. The Field Sparrows I was not aware of by song, but Karen pointed them out and I think now it will stick with me since it sounds similar to a Prairie Warbler, but doesn’t have as rapid a succession, and doesn’t begin at such a high pitch. Karen had her new The Shorebird Guide book there, which I think I’ll need to invest in now after seeing it, though on Saturday evening I did buy The Warbler Guide, which is essentially a full sized field guide just covering the warbler species as opposed to all north American birds like the beginner guides do, allowing for more detailed accounts for each species. I’m also awaiting delivery of The Sibley Guide to Bird Life & Behavior, which should help me reach another tier of knowledge beyond just identification of birds. The three of us did not hear the Bobwhite this outing, the first time in my last 4 visits, which of course had to occur when others would have been there to back my sighting up, but I think it may have been because of where they had parked, near the farmhouse as opposed to in the northwestern gravel lot like I had.

This Red-spotted Purple was sighted at Princess Anne WMA on Saturday morning!

Perhaps the vehicle sound frightened them into bedding down for a while until we left. After Whitehurst, I followed Karen & Tom down to Mackay Island NWR since I was really just waiting on Ruth to get home from Charleston during the day anyway, and had no formal plans of any kind until evening when she’d arrive home. I did see one Eastern Meadowlark pop out of the grassy field as we turned onto Princess Anne Road, but birds were quiet otherwise til we reached Mackay. Even the Knott’s Island Causeway didn’t turn up much aside from some Red-winged Blackbirds, and the Wood Ducks that Karen usually sees were not anywhere in sight along the road unfortunately (although I did get to see 2 on Saturday, so no big deal). Driving behind them into Mackay, I actually had to put my windows up for the first section since the gravel road was so dry after not getting any rain this week that the dust was just too much for me. Fortunately as we neared the marshes, where the canal sits next to the road I was able to put the windows back down, and none to early either. After seeing a perched Osprey in a tree, just beyond the first turnaround, but not so far as the bend that leads to the pumphouse, I heard the unmistakable song of a Marsh Wren calling off to the right. Both our cars stopped simultaneously and Karen got out excitedly asking me if I’d heard it. I parked and got out, watching the reeds as one Marsh Wren continued to call, and then flew over the top of the reeds then dove down deep into their protection. We moved our cars off the road a bit so other vehicles could pass, and watched for probably another 15 minutes but never getting a good photograph. However, this is the a new life bird for me since I heard, saw, and then got one terrible photograph. This one has me rethinking my photography life list, as I’m now getting to some birds that just aren’t conducive to photographing, and really just seeing them is a feat, while hearing them is the typical method for noting their location in an area.

A male & female Two-striped Grasshopper mating at Milldam Creek in Virginia Beach. The size differential among the sexes is quite striking, similar to that in many fish species.

We met a passerby who was Carolyn Powell, an HRWE member, and then at the pumphouse parking area also ran into Hugh & Una Davenhill, another member of the group. No shorebirds were visible at the pumphouse though, with a group of 4 though flying past, not vocalizing, and I was unable to get binoculars on them in time to ID. Karen & Tom were going to head out, and so I walked the loop trail around the main impoundment clockwise. A very hot and humid day with no breeze made for a tough walk, one that gave me a piercing headache by the time I was done unfortunately. I did see a good number of birds while on my walk, but most were too distant for photographs of any quality. Wading birds were the most common, which made sense given the water levels in the impoundment were quite high, too high for most shorebirds. Great Blue Heron, Great Egret, Snowy Egret, Cattle Egret, Tricolored Heron, and Little Blue Herons were all see. In fact, the only heron I missed on was the Green Heron. A single Glossy Ibis was also encountered, but no White Ibis were seen. Least Terns were sighted, but no other tern or gull species were found. Nearing the end of the walk, a Red-headed Woodpecker, Indigo Bunting, Eastern Bluebird, an American Goldfinch provided for a beautiful rainbow of red, white, blue, black & yellow plumage! Though again, all were at a distance and even my 400mm lens was of little use in capturing any photographs of quality. On the last s stretch, Turkey Vultures and Ospreys were seen, and plenty of Mourning Doves on the road & Red-winged Blackbirds flying through the marsh were encountered. Overall, it was actually one of my better walks at the park, though I’ve only been there three times now total, my first time being last Labor Day when I’d actually met Karen & Tom in person for the first time, though we’d talked a lot through the HRWE group for the couple years before that and even through my now defunct OutdoorImagery page on Facebook. While exiting the park, I kept both ears out the window listening for the Marsh Wrens just in case they’d give me another shot at a photograph but I didn’t hear them.

One of a great number of photographs I snapped of the seven Green Treefrogs encountered on Saturday at Milldam Creek!

I did then run into a vehicle that housed Ken & Betty Sue Cohen, also members of the HRWE. Betty Sue is one of the members that has started taking the leap more into birding than just photography, something I also did a couple years ago, so I’m always excited when someone is actually interested in the birds, rather than just out for a pretty picture. Don’t get me wrong, I still love photography, but it’s the birding experience that gets me out the door. She had seen a Marsh Wren and heard it just before I arrived so it was pretty neat that several of us members have been able to get this bird after Karen & Tom had first reported them in this spot (via a nice video with audio in the group the week prior). After a few minutes chatting, I headed out and went home to lay down out of the intense sun. This coming week the shorebird migration should continue progressing, and I’ll be targeting some of the same birds again. Though, it was a bit sad to not add any new birds to my Virginia Beach list (the Marsh Wrens at Mackay were a life bird for me, but the park is just across the border into North Carolina, so it doesn’t count for my Virginia Beach ‘county big year’). After last week’s addition of 5 species, I thought I’d snag another one or two this week, but that shows just how tough it is at this point in the year after the more common species have all already been sighted, and the rarer, or even accidental species are the ones remaining in the pool of available birds. Marsh Wrens have been seen in the past at Back Bay NWR, not too far away from Mackay as the birds fly, but a whole state away as the human borders state. I will be keeping a definite watch, and a definite ear out, for them there since it is one of my most active sites to visit. Actually, this year alone, of the 182 species I’ve seen in Virginia Beach, 134 of them have been seen at Back Bay NWR, though not all were first instances of the bird in the county for me. The Black Terns, and Pectoral Sandpipers will again be my prime targets moving forward as next week we head into August, and Black Terns are reported on eBird a bit more than in July at 4.7% as historical data currently shows. This means about 1 in every 25 August checklists yields a Black Tern sighting. The Pectorals are the 2nd most common August bird that I am missing, at 2.2% or about a 1 in every 50 checklists. As I said, I’m scraping the bottom of the barrel now for at least the next month, but hopefully next week will get me up one or two more birds!

American Water Lilies are currently in bloom on the backwater of the North Landing River and its tributaries, like this one seen on Milldam Creek!

Week Ending July 19, 2015

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After arriving back in town over the previous weekend, I was greatly looking forward to having a full week at home and no more vacations upcoming in the near future, allowing me to get re-focused on my efforts in reaching 200 bird species on the year in my county of residence. Since May 29, when I’d spotted a pair of Black-necked Stilts while out hiking the West Dike Trail at Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge, my list has gone completely dormant. So when we had some beautiful weather in the 80s, and sunshine on Tuesday evening, I ran home from work, got my gear together and headed up to Pleasure House Point for a quick outing. Passing over the Lesner Bridge, the water appeared to be close to high tide, with little sandbar showing. Seeing this, I abandoned my hope of finding some shorebirds, which are just starting on their southbound migration  here in mid-July. Instead, I figured I’d at least get to see some wading birds as is customary with the higher water levels, since they’re the ones that have long enough legs to still hunt for food along the shorelines when the water is high. I parked along Marlin Bay Drive, entering through the short trails that splits between the park’s two largest freshwater ponds. Eastern Towhees were calling from both sides of the trail, though remaining hidden, they’re always nice to at least hear. Upon reaching the Shoreline Trail, and turning eastward on it, I ran into a spot on the southern shore of the first pond that had been recently burned. This site is not associated with the burn that occurred further to the east a few weeks ago, and I wondered whether these burns may have been intentional, controlled burns by the park staff. Upon investigation through Facebook though, it was said that the burns were still under investigation, and were not planned by the park staff. Hopefully, this is the last of them. At least the first burn area is regrowing with short vegetation, but the pine trees impacted will take a long time to replace.

One of 5 Juvenile Tricolored Herons seen at Pleasure House Point on Tuesday evening!

As for the birds, I had my first surprise of the day just as I was reaching the meadow near the deer carcass pond, when an inbound heron caught my eyes. It was flying overhead, toward’s me, and the profile looked like that of a Yellow-crowned Night-Heron, which are the most abundant herons in the park during the summertime. I’m glad that I stopped to watch though, as it turned out instead to be a juvenile Tricolored Heron, when I got a better angle on it. The bird flew over me quickly, then further to the west, landing at the top of a very tall pine tree right along the shoreline. I kept on walking since it had landed so high up, and with mostly cloudy skies, it would not have come out very well in a photograph. Walking along the shoreline, Yellow-crowned Night-Herons did start to show up, and I saw them in all their plumages as well, adults, first year birds, and juveniles also. Red-winged Blackbirds were out in force around the marshier sections of trail, as they usually are in the summer months. While rounding the point near the inner creek, a shorebird flew high overhead, and gave out a wheep call. Through the lens, I couldn’t pick out any color, but the silhouette of the bird gave clear indication that it was an American Oystercatcher, a bird that I always love to find here, though I never seem to get very close to any as they’re either high above, or far out on the sandbars at lower tide levels. The bird flew off pretty quickly to the northwest, so I unfortunately only got one photograph of it. Great Egrets, a Great Blue Heron, and some Yellow-crowneds could be seen out in the marshy islands, and across the creek over at the backside of Thoroughgood as well. As I walked the stretch of trail between the inner creek & the ditches, a Tricolored Heron, presumably the same one I’d seen land in the tree earlier, came flying in right near me and landed some shrubbery just about 50 feet away. I couldn’t believe it had chosen a spot like this to stop, but perhaps the young birds just aren’t as weary of people as their older generations have had time to become. I shot many photographs of the bird here, and though the sun was hitting on its far side, I got some really nice shots of its colors even in the shade. Rounding the primary point of the park, I saw a Northern Mockingbird and a few Boat-tailed Grackles, including one juvenile of the species that I don’t believe I’ve encountered before.

Beautiful little Marsh Pink flowers are now in bloom in the sandy areas of Pleasure House Point!

Laughing Gulls, Royal Terns, and Common Terns were seen along this section, but a pair of kayakers had pulled up on the remaining sandbar, so there was no birds here to speak of sadly. In the saltmeadow, a beautiful pink flower was in bloom, known as Marsh Pink which I see each summer, and am always amazed just how colorful the tiny flowers are. Walking westward, I ran into pretty much the same species. When I reached the far west end of the park, I had a group of 3 more Tricolored Herons flying overhead, making this probably the most Tricoloreds I have ever seen at the park in one outing. Heading back eastward after taking a couple short interior trail but turning up no new birds, I again ran into some Great Egrets & Yellow-crowneds. Also, in addition to the Marsh Pink, I ran into one very beautiful Purple Passionflower as well, which I don’t think I’ve seen at the park before, or I just haven’t paid close enough attention in the past to. Chimney Swifts were sighted in force, with a flock of 15 of them cruising above the meadow adjacent to the deer carcass pond. A single Great Egret nearby also provided me with a few minutes of relentless picture taking. The egret, situated at the western point of the main cove of Pleasure House Creek, provided some great shots as it hunted in the flooded tidal marsh. I snapped one photograph of what appears to have been a Crayfish, just before it was swallowed whole by the bird! On my return trip as I neared the burned off area, a group of Blue Jays was encountered, at least one of which was a juvenile. I stopped in this area just off the trail and watched for them. As I did so, other birds began to appear, and this was definitely a loosely assembled mixed flock of several species. Northern Cardinals, American Robins, a Downy Woodpecker, a Northern Flicker, a pair of Carolina Chickadees, and even an Eastern Kingbird all were seen within a few minutes of standing still, several of which were also able to be photographed. I don’t often see the woodpecker species at the park, though I’m sure they’re present often, but I’m always focused more on the water & the sky above it than I am looking up in the pine trees for their kind. After this flurry of excitement, I headed back to the car on Marlin Bay Drive and headed off down the street to Shore Drive.

Crayfish for dinner! This Great Egret was observed foraging in the shallows at Pleasure House Point!

Given the excitement I’d had with the Tricoloreds, and the fact that I was already in the area, I decided to give it one more shot at finding the Mississippi Kites that have been reported again this summer as nesting in the Thoroughgood neighborhood to the southwest across Pleasure House Creek. I drove over to the area, just a few minutes away, and spent about 15 minutes staring out the car windows hoping to see one fly past overhead, or spot one up on a branch near the intersection of Curtiss Drive and Burroughs Road. While driving east on Curtiss away from the intersection, I spotted one of the birds up in a tree on the north side of the road, near the Westerfield Road intersection. I stopped the car and fired off a couple photographs of the bird, which was very dimly lit thanks to the setting sun, but I could still make out its identity thanks to the shape of the bird and some of the details like the very long, forked tail and beak shape. As I checked the photos, the bird flew off to the east, landing in a tree which was obscured from view. I left the neighborhood, and tried to pick the bird back up from the next streets to the north, only a hundred feet or so away as the bird flew, but a ways for driving since no streets cut through. I couldn’t spot the bird in the tree, but I did see it fly past overhead, showing very long wings, gliding very easily on the breeze, true to their namesake of ‘Kite’ most certainly. A second bird was also spotted high overhead, presumably the mate of the first bird. This pair nested in the area last summer as well, and others have reported that its offspring from last year has returned to the same area for the summer. So with that one, and their fledgling up in a nest somewhere nearby, there is a total of 4 Mississippi Kites in the area, something very rare out this far. The birds range all across the southeastern coastal states, but we are at the very northeast edge of their regular range, though some individual do extend that range in the summer months for breeding, like these birds have. After being delighted to finally nab the kite, and add it to my life list, I also realized that my dry streak since May 29 had finally come to a close, and I got to place it on my yearly Virginia Beach list as #178, leaving just 22 more species to reach my start-of-the-year goal of hitting 200 species!

Willets have started their southward journeys for the Fall season, and have arrived to Virginia Beach in very good numbers!

On Wednesday & Thursday, heat kept me indoors, which was just fine since I had a fair number of photographs to go through, tag, and crop/edit for inclusion in my weekly gallery and my eBird report. On Friday, I did the usual, leaving work at 3 PM and heading out towards Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge. With the movements of shorebirds having started now for their fall migration southward, I thought it would be the perfect day to set a baseline for my observations along the beachfront of the park. My hope was also that I might be able to spot a shorebird that I missed during their spring migration northward through the area, like a Pectoral Sandpiper, Marbled Godwit, or Whimbrel. Arriving at the park about 3:40 PM, I walked immediately down to the beach along the northern of the two access trails, forgoing the other trails around the visitor contact station since it was just so hot & humid. Down on the beach, a good breeze was keeping things a bit cooler, so it made sense to stay there as opposed to walking any trails being cooked by stagnant air. As I arrived on the beach, a Great Black-backed Gull was sitting out in front of me, and several Laughing Gulls were down just a bit form it. Royal Terns were in the air, with plenty of them being seen as they flew along with the breeze. Heading southward, I could see a set of poles about a half mile away. When I’d arrive to their location, it was obvious that the park staff had placed these to delineate a sea turtle nest that must have been made in the last month or so, probably a Loggerhead Turtle since they’re the most common ones we have around here I believe. I have never seen a sea turtle alive in the wild, though after Hurricane Sandy passed through our area in late October of 2012, I did unfortunately find a deceased one washed up on the beach along Broad Bay at First Landing State Park. I reported that to the stranding team at the Virginia Aquarium since they do keep a log of all living, and deceased, marine animals that end up on the beaches across our region.

Short-billed Dowitchers have also started their migration, this one was seen at Back Bay NWR on Friday evening!

I really wish I could happen to be at Back Bay when the eggs, buried down in the sand, begin to hatch, but the odds of that happening are extremely unlikely. What a sight it would be to see, but just knowing it still occurs along our beaches here in Virginia Beach is pretty awesome. As developed as the northern half of the city is, the southern half remains in use by a ton of wildlife species. Leaving the turtle nest behind me, and continuing southward another half mile or so, I finally ran into my first set of shorebirds. A group of 4 Willets, with one still showing some pretty breeding colors that hadn’t all worn out yet. Further south, I encountered a pair of sandpipers that I was calling Semipalmateds in the field. It wasn’t until I came home and reviewed the photographs that I questioned whether they could be Western Sandpipers instead. I posted and received confirmation that they were indeed Westerns through Facebook, showing reddish scapular feathers, and longer, droopier bills than the Semipalmated Sandpiper house. These two species are intensely similar when not in breeding plumage, and are two members of the group of shorebird referred to commonly as ‘peeps’ since they are small, chatty birds that are tough to distinguish between. The Western, was a new addition to my Virginia Beach list, being #179 now on the year! Sticking close to the pair of sandpipers, a Short-billed Dowitcher provided some great photographs as well, and gave me a nice size comparison object in the photographs of the Westerns, and of some Willets that eventually joined the group. Don’t let the name of this bird fool you, their bill is actually quite long, it is just slightly shorter than the Long-billed Dowitcher. Realistically, they should be called Long-billed Dowitchers, and Almost-as-Long-billed Dowitchers, but, that’d too much of a mouthful I guess. Continuing on, I spotted a duck sitting up on the sandy beach, and recognized it froma distance as a Scoter. When I approached, the bird clearly was unhappy, opening its beak in a threatening pose. Typically when a sea duck like a scoter is sitting on the beach, something is not right.

Most interesting of all the birds I saw this past week, this crazy looking bird is a Whimbrel! This is one of only a couple records reported so far this year in Virginia Beach, and the first of the fall migration records!

So, I walked closer to the bird just to see if it could move. As I got close in, I could tell it was a White-winged Scoter, the least likely of the three scoter species (Black, and Surf are the other two) to be found on the coastline of Virginia during the summer months. It also became readily apparent that the bird was indeed injured, as it got up, and ran/tried to fly towards the water. It’s right wing was completely shredded from the elbow all the way down, leaving just bone showing and no feathers. The bird obviously couldn’t fly in this condition, but it made it into the water with no trouble, and appeared to be able to swim just fine. Unfortunately though, I’m not sure how effective at hunting underwater it will be. I notified a local rehabber, Karen Roberts, of the bird after I got home, but there is no guarantee it came back up onto the beach, as I did not see it on my northbound return trip. Seeing birds in this condition is always a sad sight, sometimes it is hard to keep up the attitude of, ‘it’s just the circle of life’, especially with such a beautiful duck. Onward I travelled, seeing every increasing numbers of Lesser Black-backed and Laughing Gulls, some providing great photographs while standing in the water, and others on fly-bys over the beach. About 2.5 mile south of the parking area, I spotted a group of Willets out ahead of me, that they all took to the air. If you’ve seen Willets before, you’ll know that in flight they are very easily identified. Their very bright white & black patterns on the wings are a dead obvious call as to what they are. So when this group ahead of me lifted off, and I noticed one bird lacking the white markings, my heart started to pound. My immediate reaction was that it must be a Marbled Godwit mixed in with the Willets. On August 30 of last year, I had a very similar encounter with a godwit just north of here closer to the parking area, which was also mixed in with a group of Willets. That Marbled Godwit was one of perhaps only 2 individuals that were sighted in Virginia Beach last year altogether, though it was reported by 5 persons, one before me earlier in the day, unknown to me at the time, and three after, including Ron Furnish & Marie Mullins whom I’d told about the bird in the hopes that they too could come find it. So with that having occurred, I was sure this must be a godwit as well.

The distinctive white & black patterns on the Willet make it one of the most easily identifiable shorebirds while in flight!

I moved up along the beach closer to the dunes, since the bird seemed to get spooked easier than the other shorebirds. Over the next half mile, I pursued the bird as it wandered its way south along the shore, finally getting into a spot where my binoculars could see details of it. To my amazement, it was not a Marbled Godwit, but instead, it was a Whimbrel, #180! Perhaps not as rare in Virginia Beach since typically a few will be sighted each year during migration, it was still an incredible bird to spot! And interestingly enough, last year, I’d seen my first on July 13, a mere 4 days earlier in the year. Clearly, they swing through our area like clockwork, starting to arrive in early July, so I will have to remember that for next year. Eventually, I got close enough for some very nice photographs of the bird, both on the ground, and a few in-flight shots, before it took off northward with some Willets, and flew off into the distance, not to be seen again by me during the northbound trip. After this excitement, I turned around and headed north towards the parking area, sighting the same species as before over the first couple miles. As I neared the turtle nest again, this time from the south, a small white figure was seen on the beach ahead. A Piping Plover! This small shorebird stood higher up the beach, closer to the dunes than the water, blending in very well with the surrounding sand. In order to try and get a nice shot of it, I had to go up to the dune line, and shoot towards the east, so the sun would light the bird up and provide a good setting for my camera. After a few photographs, I left the bird undisturbed since they are actually an endangered species here in the US, and a bird I don’t often see, though somehow this year I’ve picked them up at Back Bay on 3 separate occasions now, after having never seen one in the county before this year. The remainder of the hike back was hot, but not filled with any new birds, though I could never complain after having seen everything I did during the walk. Going into this walk with the intent of setting a baseline for shorebirds as their migration is just starting seemed a bit funny to me afterwards. I doubt I’ll have another hike during even peak migration when I get to add 2 species to my yearly list, so seeing everything on this outing was just an incredible experience. With that in mind, I figured I’d get home, grab some sleep, and head back out in the morning elsewhere to seek out some additional shorebird species.

Showing yellow legs, and the start of its very dark wing feathers, this is a young Lesser Black-backed Gull!

So on Saturday morning, I slept in a bit later than usual, not getting up til about 7 AM, though it was totally overcast early on so I didn’t miss much. I drove off towards Princess Anne Wildlife Management Area’s Whitehurst Tract in the hopes of finding some shorebirds on the impoundments that I’ve been checking every few weeks throughout the spring & summer. Also, having visited the park last Sunday, and agonizingly not being able to locate a calling Bobwhite, I wanted to see if it might still be around this weekend. Parking at around 8:40 AM or so, I trudged off through the very overgrown entrance trail southward towards the tightly packed set of impoundments located in the southern half of the park. On the trip south, I saw some Blue Jays, and some Indigo Buntings as well, but it was fairly quiet, with no calls from Bobwhites being heard. Reaching the choke point in the trail just before the southern impoundments, I could already see a few shorebird heads sticking up from the grasses on the northern cell. To get in a good position I had to walk south though, splitting between the middle & southern impoundments, heading eastward which would put me in a good spot with the sun as I arrived to the northern cell. No birds were observed on either of these 2 cells except for a single Great Blue Heron. Grasshoppers were again out in full force as they were last Sunday, jumping all over the place out ahead of me. I did also run into one pretty good sized Rat Snake or Racer, just didn’t get a good enough look at it to identify properly before it disappeared. Around the impoundments, the grass was about chest high, making it the ideal territory for chiggers and ticks alike. However, I was sprayed head to toe in deet, not taking any chances, after having pulled a few ticks out of me earlier in the season. Their bites are just so itchy and nasty, it behooves one greatly to just avoid them altogether if possible. And since I’m obviously not going to stop hiking just because of them, the spray is really the only alternative. Anyway, I reached the southeastern corner of the northern cell, and immediately realized there was plenty of Killdeer out in the grassy middle of the cell. A total of 11 of them were out there actually, with a Spotted Sandpiper, and 5 peeps as well.

Endangered in the United States, this dapper fellow is a Piping Plover! 

The birds were just too far from me to be to distinguish as Least, Semipalmated or Western Sandpipers, though I would have to guess that they were Semipalmateds since they seem more common in the park. This was the first outing I’ve had this summer though that yielded this number of shorebirds, so definitely a move in the right direction. Moving back up through the northern half of the park, I followed the same route as last Sunday’s walk, still not hearing any Bobwhites unfortunately, and thinking they must have moved off during the week elsewhere. I did spot some Eastern Meadowlarks though as I neared the abandoned farmhouse at the northeast corner of the property. Several Mourning Doves, a Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, and a Northern Mockingbird were seen in the large trees just west of the building. Walking up to meet Munden Road, then turning left to head back to the parking area also turned up many birds. On the powerline wires that stretch along the north side of the roadway several Northern Cardinals, a Blue Grosbeak, and Orchard Oriole, and a Barn Swallow were seen. As I neared the vehicle, the call of a Northern Bobwhite rang out through the air and stopped me again dead in my tracks, just as it had done last week! I thought, perfect, this is my chance to finally photograph one! I walked back to the farmhouse, east down the road, took my backpack off so the sound of water sloshing around couldn’t give my position away, and slowly crept up towards where the bird was calling from, just west of the farmhouse. Over the next few minutes, the bird called every 20 seconds or so, a very clear Bob-White call! As I approached, the calls suddenly stopped, and I felt my heart sink again, just as I had last week. While I stood there in the silence for what felt like forever, but was probably only a few seconds, suddenly two birds burst out into the air just 50 feet or so to my left. A very quick look at they quickly rushed off was all I needed to verify that the birds were Northern Bobwhites, and though they were most certainly not the one that was calling, it did lead me to them.

One of many, many grasshoppers sighted at Princess Anne Wildlife Management Area, this is a Differential Grasshopper!

Had they not erupted into the air, much like a Woodcock or a Grouse, I’d never have seen the small birds hiding in the thick vegetation. I didn’t manage to get an identifying photograph, just due to how fast these birds are on the fly, but I did get a good look, and combined with having heard them here now twice, I’m happy to finally add them to my list as #181 in Virginia Beach this year! I tried to re-locate the birds again, but to no avail, so I again headed down the road back towards the car. Of course, as I reached the parking area, the Bobwhite again started calling, but I felt that I should leave the bird along after having gotten the visual earlier, maybe the next outing will finally yield my first photograph of one of these birds in Virginia Beach. Near the car, I spotted a fledge year Common Yellowthroat, a pair of Carolina Wrens, and also a quick view of a hummingbird as it zoomed through the trees. Having arrived at the vehicle though I headed out from the park, driving back north along Morris Neck Road. Along the way, I decided that maybe it was time I checked out Munden Point Park, further south along Princess Anne Road, very near the state line with North Carolina. Munden Point Park has shown a few reports of Chipping Sparrows throughout the year, and since it is now July, and I’ve yet to stumble across one of these birds, I felt it was time to really start trying to isolate them. According to eBird, Chipping Sparrows are the most common bird that I have not yet seen, showing up in something like 5% of all checklists submitted from Virginia Beach. Of course, most of these are people seeing them at their backyard feeders, where they are quite common. However, since I don’t have feeders, I have to wait to stumble on them near fields in parks, or try to track them down.

A non-native species to our area, but a beautiful one, this is an Asiatic Dayflower!

So I went to Munden Point in the hopes of doing just that, parking near the Frisbee golf course and walking towards the North Landing River kayak launch, following the shoreline around. In the process, I turned up some American Robins, a Bald Eagle, an Eastern Kingbird, a big group of Purple Martins, and a very chatty Northern Mockingbird. But, it wasn’t until I cleared the Frisbee golf area that a small bird came out of the trees and landed in the grass. I got the binoculars up and noted it was a Chipping Sparrow in nonbreeding plumage, making that #182 on my list, and the 5th addition this week after 6 weeks of not adding a single bird! A second bird landed nearby also, one in breeding colors, making for some nice photographs for documentation. I had hoped to find one, but I don’t think I actually thought they would show up like this, especially with never having walked around in the park before, and not knowing where to look. I was delighted that it turned out as good as it did though. From the park I headed back up towards home to get all my photographs in order and to issue posts on Virginia’s listserver of some of the sightings. On Sunday it was in the mid-90s, with heat indices well over 100 degrees Fahrenheit, so instead of hiking, Ruth & I went to the beach up around 88th Street. Though I wasn’t there all that long since I just can’t sit still all day on the beach, I spent a good hour in the water, which felt amazing on a hot day. It was also nice to be able to observe plenty of birds in flight over the coastline, with Brown Pelicans flying in flocks, Ospreys spending plenty of time catching fish offshore, and Terns (Sandwich and Royal) and Gulls (Laughing, Great Black-backed & Ring-billed) also being seen. All in all, it was a good way to end the week, and I’m excited that the fall migrations for shorebirds have begun, which will eventually lead to songbird migrations, waterfowl migrations, and raptor migrations as well. At least the slowest part of the year (June through mid July) is over now, and each week will bring in some interesting sights!

A look into the tiny world around us, this is a Delta Flower Scarab, a species of Beetle which is resting atop a bloom of clover!

Week Ending July 12, 2015

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After a successful start to the Midwest vacation over the weekend, Monday came, and I must say it felt quite fantastic to not be getting up to head into my office for a new work week. Instead, I had the entire week off to enjoy the outdoors with my fiancé, Ruth in Minnesota, and later in the week, Indiana. If you’re here seeking information on Coastal Virginia, jump about half way down to where I get back into the region for a Sunday outing. The beginning of this is still set in Minnesota, which I hope most folks will still check out because it is a beautiful place. Anyways, on Monday morning, we all awoke around 6 AM to very dreary, wet weather. Given that it wasn’t exactly hiking or fishing weather in Ely, we first decided that we’d head down the Echo Trail towards Crane Lake, and stop at the Vermillion Falls like Kim & I had done last summer. However, after thinking on it, I decided to head instead down to the north shore of Lake Superior since there is just more to see that way and more trails to get out to walk if the rain let up. So we headed down into town, then south on Highway 1 towards the north shore. My hope was that perhaps we’d encounter a Moose so Ruth could see her very first one. With this in mind, we all kept close watch out the windows, especially when we passed through the area around the ‘town’ of Isabella. Unfortunately, no Moose presented themselves on the trip to the shore. After reaching Highway 61 at Illgen City, we headed northeasterward towards the Canadian border. On Saturday, Ruth got to see the stretch from Duluth to here en route to Ely, so it was great that she was getting to see the next piece of the chain. Arriving in Schroeder, a very small town along the road where Kim had at one point sold her clothing at a festival along the highway, we got to see our first waterfall of the day. The Cross River passes under the highway as it descends rapidly to meet Lake Superior, over a hundred vertical feet below. The waterfall that is created here is incredible, and there is a wayside pull-off for vehicles to park and walk back to view it. So we did just that, and also snuck in a few photographs of the Lamb’s Resort sign to the west since Ruth is a Lamb afterall.

Massive volumes of water traveling through the Temperance River in northeastern Minnesota!

From the Cross River, the next stopping point was the Temperance River State Park. Here, you can park on either side of the highway, depending on which direction you are traveling. Typically, we’ve just viewed the Hidden Falls to the north, and the series of rapids upstream of it before the river calms down to just a slower moving, wide stream. Today, we followed suit, getting out of the vehicle on the north side of the highway and walking the trails up the east side of the river. From the parking area, I heard a wonderful sound, that of a Veery calling from the surrounding forest. I’ve only heard this sound one other time, and it was just a couple of weeks ago while up in Connecticut. These thrushes do pass through Virginia, but so far I haven’t encountered any. I did see several thrushes during the hike here also, but I couldn’t get good looks at them to say whether they were the Veery I heard calling, or if they were Hermit or Swainson’s Thurshes, both of which are common along the shore I believe. In addition to the thrushes, a did see several Black-throated Green Warblers, and Chestnut-sided Warblers were quite common to hear as well. With the very overcast skies, and the light misty rain coming down though, wildlife photography took a backseat to scenery photography on this outing. The wet conditions made for some truly amazing views of the rivers as they rolled down the hillsides near the lake. The ground was a bit slick given just how wet it was, but walking slowly along the river probably heightened the experience a bit, and afforded views I might have missed if I was walking at normal pace. Several large trees were seen down in the gorges of the river today, with all branches torn off, so clearly during high water levels. Amazingly, some of them were a considerable distance above the current water level, so it must have been quite a sight to behold when the river was at its inflated elevation following severe downpours probably earlier in the springtime.

Wild Roses growing alongside the rapidly moving waters of the Temperance River!

With all the rain, flowers were in bloom as well, with many wild roses, blue flags (wild iris), columbine, bunch berries, and some very pretty purple flowers that were bell shaped that I can’t name. Here we also saw our first collection of Moccasin Flowers, which seemed to be much more numerous in June of last year, where we saw them along all the trails I hiked. The flowers, and the river made for a beautiful setting this July though, and as I mentioned, the overcast skies and mist even heightened the photographs of everything; it was just all very lush in appearance. We walked up the eastern shoreline as far up as where the slacker water begins, then headed back down the same path again. We had initially crossed on the bridge over the river, but the trail heading down the west shoreline was closed due to erosion so we had to cross back to the eastern shore to reach the parking area. I was amazed to see that many hikers were out just wearing flip flops, which seemed almost suicidal given how wet and slick the rocks around the gorge can get. No one appeared to get injured or hurt today, but if you walk with that type of protection (or lack of protection) on your feet in this environment, your good fortunes will eventually run out, and with the fast moving water and jagged canyon walls, it won’t be pretty; just a word to the wise. After climbing down the final set of stone-carved stairs, we reached the parking area and headed just a bit further down the road to Cascade River State Park. In stark contrast to the name bestowed upon the Temperance River, the Cascade River actually does what its name states. The river passes through several beautiful waterfalls over a short distance forming a cascade of epic proportions as it too, descends upon the shoreline of Lake Superior below.

One of the most unique flowers of the northern forests, the Moccasin Flower!

Along Highway 61 there is a wayside pull-over for parking along the mouth of the river, thought it makes for a tough pull-out after the hike with little sight distance. We parked on the north side of the road, and crossed over to the eastern shoreline before beginning the walk upstream. As the river meets the road, an immense forest of ferns rests along the northern side, making the area look more like a rainforest one might find in the Pacific Northwest than that of one here in Minnesota. As with the prior rivers, the Cascade River was also impressive today, swollen in terms of typical status in July I would assume, with quite a volume of water moving through the narrow walled canyon formed over the millennia. Hiking up to the cascades was a beautiful walk, though I did have to throw on a rain jacket this time since the rain had picked up a bit. The same plants that had been in bloom at the other rivers were here as well, though the Columbine really stood out against the rocky canyon walls that they somehow managed to grow right out of. Ruth & I poked around some of the lesser travelled trails that crossed the rocky sides of the canyon, grabbing as many photographs as we could in the hopes that a few would come out well in the dimly lit, very forested areas. After a successful walk back down from the cascades, we stopped briefly at the mouth of the river to view Lake Superior. However, the lake was primarily enshrouded in fog, which made it tough to really see anything outside the immediate shoreline. What was neat though, was the fact that you really couldn’t see where the water surface met the air, and everything looked the same off in the distance. From the Cascade River, we continued on towards Grand Marais, where we stopped at the Angry Trout Café, the first time I’ve ever stopped for a lunch out while in Minnesota as a matter of fact; normally we just bring a cooler with sandwiches or snacks, so this was out of the ordinary. But, in a good way, the food was delicious, and I wanted to sample everything, from the cheese and smoked cisco & whitefish appetizer, to the whitefish & trout chowder, to my whitefish sandwich, and even the homemade soda that I washed it down with, it was all delicious.

Bunchberry plant showing off just how lush the forest floor was after all the rain we received this week in Minnesota!

After somehow devouring my way through all the food, we made a quick stop off at a coffee shop so Kim & Ruth could refuel, then stopped at a gas station so Ruth’s car could do the same. From there we headed back down the shore to Highway 1, and back up into Ely. We stopped briefly at Kim’s parent’s house and finally got to see her sister, Linnea, and her two daughters, Maggie & Evelyn. After a quick visit, we headed back up to the house, where I took Ruth out onto the logging road to give her a go at her new fishing rod. Armed with just a sinker tied on she let her first few casts fling, and only got stuck in the trees a couple of times. While she was practicing casting, a breeding pair of Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers landed on a nearby tree, a spot they clearly frequent as it was already decimated by their standard pattern of peck holes. I ran back in to grab my camera, and made it back out while the male, in all his breeding plumage glory, was still up the tree. I snapped a few shots, and watched for a few more minutes before it did fly off southward into the forest. Ruth threw out a few more casts with the rod, and then we cleaned up, grabbed a dinner of pork chops that she cooked up outside on the grill, and then crashed for the night! Tuesday was our last day in Minnesota, and thankfully we were able to get up and moving early on, leaving around 6 AM, and heading up to my father’s favorite fishing lake. This was the first time I’d ever gotten to go fishing with Ruth, and it was to a spot I know quite intimately, so I really was excited to get her out to catch some fish. After the long hike into the lake, about three-quarters of a mile, we all made it to the shoreline, rigged up our rods, got all the gear situated our Minnesota II canoe that my father & I used to race with, as well as fish from, and we set out from shore into the lake. It was only a few casts in that I caught my first Walleye of the day, and after an hour or so, I’d added another 3 but nothing was hitting on the other rods.

The primary section of cascades along the Cascade River before it drops down into Lake Superior!

Kim was in the middle of the canoe, which makes for incredibly difficult casting, and Ruth was up front, with my in the back doing my best at mimicking the positioning and control that my father was always so good at with the canoe. After a while, Kim requested to get out on shore, where she actually ended up fishing from for the duration, and Ruth & I were left in the canoe to work the rest of the lake from the water side. Soon after, Ruth hooked, and caught her very first Walleye! Probably about a 10-11 incher or so, it was on the smaller side, but there was no way I was going to throw back her first one, so we tossed it in the cooler to be part of our fish fry later in the day. That was of huge relief to me, as I didn’t want to have taken her all the way up to Minnesota, and all the way out to our favorite lake, for her to not catch anything! Over the next couple of hours, we worked the shorelines, and trolled across the middle on several passes, adding to the cooler every so often. Ruth eventually caught one Walleye in the 14-15” range, perfectly sized for eating, and lacking the mercury that the older, larger fish often carry, a big reason we typically eat the smaller fish & not the larger ones. While fishing, we had a Broad-winged Hawk circle high above, as well as an American Kestrel passing over while traveling in a northward direction. Eventually, we grabbed Kim up from the shoreline, where she had caught 1 keeper-worthy Yellow Perch, and 3 Walleyes, all from shore. I think she was really excited to see that this was possible, since it affords her the ability to come in to the lake via the solo canoe on her own, and just paddle to some spots around the lake to cast from the different shorelines, rather than try to hold the canoe steady enough to fish it alone. In the end, we finished with a haul of 14 Walleyes and 1 Perch between the three of us, with Ruth having put the most (6) Walleyes in the cooler, and actually she was the only one to catch her allotted limit by DNR standards.

One of the few flowering plants that grew alongside the ravine cut by the Cascade River, these are a species of Columbine!

Walking the long portage again back to the car, a bit tougher this time with the added weight of the cooler, and the no longer fresh muscles, we arrived back probably around 1 PM or so. We headed home and grabbed a quick lunch. Just prior to lunch, I had heard the sound of small birds chirping, and after scanning the nearby maple trees in the yard, I spotted a nest, which turned out to be that of a pair of Red-eyed Vireos, the common songsters that were filling the air with their question & answer style music. We watched it occasionally throughout the day as the adults eventually brought food to the youngsters, which Ruth was able to see as they stretched their necks out to receive the freshly caught caterpillars. After lunch, we spent the next hour or so filleting all the fish we’d caught in the morning. Once this was complete (much easier in July than in June when the bugs are eating you alive while you’re trying to work a sharp fillet knife), I went for a short hike down the logging road since it was my last day there, and I thought maybe I’d find some birds to photograph. Being quite exhausted from the day already, I walked just to the 5/8 of a mile spot where I used to run to as a kid before turning around. I did encounter a number of butterflies again, including Tiger Swallowtails and Variegated Fritillaries, and another species I don’t know by name, but had quite a beautiful black, white, and red color pattern (see photos). A single Red Squirrel also made an appearance along the road and gave me a few brief chances to grab its photograph before darting into the trees. Upon returning back to the house, I showered up, and Ruth & Kim cooked up a dinner of fresh fried Walleye, which was about the best meal I can ever eat. So we finished up the trip just as I’d hoped, with Ruth able to really get a good feel for the way I grew up, staying in our house, fishing our favorite lake, swimming where I used to, and hiking some of my favorite spots. After getting to bed around 9 PM we awoke on Wednesday morning at 4:30 AM, and heading out from the house, bidding farewell to Kim, around 5 AM. It is about a 10 hour drive from Ely to my mother’s house in Munster, Indiana, a drive I have done all too many times, having spent time with both my parents during the year, and having had to be transferred between them each time. The beginning of the drive was the last chance we had to get Ruth her first Moose sighting, as we travelled down Highway 1 to Highway 2, which then leads to Two Harbors on Lake Superior. As with the prior attempts, unfortunately, we came up empty handed on seeing a Moose. However, we were treated to an incredible sunrise over the South Kawishiwi River from the new-ish bridge south of Ely before the sun hid behind the clouds.

A breeding plumaged male Yellow-bellied Sapsucker caught in the act, north of Ely, MN!

I pulled over in a gravel parking area and walked back up to the bridge for a bunch of photographs though, making for a great addition to the trip portfolio. We made a quick stop at Dunn Brothers Coffee in Duluth, and then headed into Wisconsin. Through Wisconsin, Ruth spotted another 7 Sandhill Cranes to my amazement, though we were never in a good position to pull over, so this species still remains off my life list even though I’ve seen probably 50 of them, all along interstates unfortunately. Maybe next year will be the year I finally get a photograph of one! We detoured to check out the Cheese Chalet in DeForest, Wisconsin, and ended up buying 1.5 lbs of cheese and a summer sausage to snack on, along with my fried walleye sandwich made from the leftovers of Tuesday’s dinner. Arriving back to Indiana around 4 PM, we got all settled into my mother’s home (the house I lived in during my senior year of high school before heading off to college and then later moving to Virginia). Over the next couple of days, we didn’t get into the outdoors at all so I don’t have much to report as far that goes, though we did go see the film, Jurassic World, which made me want to get out for a hike more than anything, even though I knew I wouldn’t find any of the films creatures. We had some great meals and spent some time in the pool, visiting with my sister Ellen whom I don’t get to see very often, her boyfriend John, with an H, and my mother & step-father, Bob. We grilled out for my uncles birthday on Friday, and then crashed for the evening. On Saturday, we headed back towards Virginia at 5 AM (Central time), arriving back home at 7:30 PM (Eastern time), which was probably the fastest we’ve ever made the 950 mile drive. I think part of this might be because Ruth drove for about 5 hours between Lexingtons (KY & VA), and I slept for about an hour so I have no idea just how fast she was driving. It was nice to get home on Saturday rather than on Sunday as I have done in the past, just to give us the option if we got tired along the way to get a hotel somewhere and not miss work the next day. Also, it let us unwind on Sunday, which was really needed after all the travelling (~3500 miles) we had done in the last 9 days. The biggest reason though, was the it was the 1 year anniversary of when Ruth & I adopted a little kitten that showed up in our front yard, and after a year of growing to love our Buster more and more, it was a special evening to spend with him!

Not sure on the identity of this dapper butterfly, but whatever it is, it sure is pretty! Taken along the logging road I grew up off of.

On Sunday morning though, I did get up at 6 AM, and headed to Princess Anne Wildlife Management Area to see if any shorebirds had started to arrive in the region. July is a big month for shorebirds moving southward. They’re the first ‘family’ of birds to begin migrating southward and so this is the best time to be able to prioritize seeing their species. Most of our shorebirds I already picked up on their way north in April & May, but some species, like Whimbrel or Pectoral Sandpipers managed to elude my efforts. There are several others that I’d love to get for the first time also, like American Golden-Plovers and Stilt Sandpipers, so throughout the month of July, I plan to hit the beaches, and flooded fields of Pungo quite hard since this is where you’ll find them. On Saturday it apparently rained quite hard across the region, with parts of Norfolk getting 3” of rain in an hour, an incredible amount that will certainly flood their archaic drainage systems set to handle a 2-year storm (50% chance of recurrence in any given year). A 3” rainfall event is akin to about a 40-year event (2.5% chance of happening each year), so this was quite a storm. Unfortunately, I missed out on seeing it as we didn’t arrive home until afterwards. But given the rain, I thought heading south into Pungo would be the ticket to finding shorebirds. Named for their primary habitat, shorebirds are skinny birds that walk in search of food across beaches, mudflats, and flooded fields with rainfall induced ‘shorelines’ stretching through them. The impoundments at Princess Anne WMA provide a perfect habitat for them, and it was last August that I first began traveling to this park. Robert Ake had spotted a Ruff last year on the impoundments in mid-August, and when I went to look for it, I got to see a number of other species that at the time I wasn’t very good at differentiating. Well, almost a year later, I will say that I am much more confident in my ability to identify the varying species of shorebirds, though there are some I haven’t yet had a crack at as mentioned earlier. So I arrived at the park about 7:25 AM, and headed down the main entry trail to the south into the so-called Whitehurst Tract. The entry trail is a bit overgrown, but about halfway towards the southern group of impoundments that vegetation yields to large gravel, making for easier travels. Also, with the water distribution main work that has been undertaken this summer at the park, the construction vehicles have done a good job of keeping the vegetation short.

One of the few forest critters that would show itself in the dense forests, a Red Squirrel!

Blue Grosbeaks and Indigo Buntings were seen on the entry trail, and Blue-gray Gnatcatchers and Carolina Chickadees were also encountered as I reached the chokepoint entry to the southern half of the park. Ditches have been dug into the perimeter of the western-most cell here, but not yet flooded. Intake gates & pipes have also been placed so I assume when they flood the impoundments to enhance the habitat for migrating waterfowl, this section will be filled for the first time. I walked a quick loop around the middle cell so that I could get views over all the cells without spending too much time in the tall grasses. However, I was a bit stunned to see that there was not a single shorebird on the ground of any cell, and just 3 Killdeer were seen in flight overhead during the hike. A single Snowy Egret was the only bird on the northern cell (where the Ruff had been seen last year). Great Egret, Cattle Egrets, and Great Blue Herons were all encountered at long range, but everything was pretty weary this outing, flying off before I ever got close. Obscure Birdwing Grasshoppers were everywhere, with hundreds of them jumping out of the way as I walked through the taller grasses on some of the trails. I’d never seen anything like this before. Dragonflies also were out in huge numbers, in some places filling the sky with a wide range of color from the Needham’s Skimmers, Halloween Pennants, Great Blue Skimmers, Eastern Pondhawks and Blue Dashers. I worked my way around the northern half counter-clockwise, reaching the area at the northeast corner where the abandoned farmhouse yard has essentially been turned into a storage yard for construction materials. Here, I heard a sound that stopped me dead in my tracks. It was the unmistakable call of a Northern Bobwhite, and not very far off. I listened intently as it called a dozen or so times, about every 20-25 seconds. I tried to step up to a better vantage point, but in doing so, the calls stopped, and it must have been able to see me from wherever it was hiding. The fields to the west are all overgrown right now, so it virtually could have been anywhere among them and I’d never spot it. I spent about 15 minutes walking around hoping to see it, but couldn’t get a look. Birders count bird that they hear though, so why was this so frustrating to me you ask?

Ruth & I's farewell sunrise along the South Kawishiwi River while traveling southbound away from Ely, MN en route to Munster, IN!

Well, when it comes to my counts, numbers of species, and lists on eBird, I do not report birds for a county until I have visually observed one in a given year. So far in 2015, I have not seen a Northern Bobwhite with my own eyes, therefore, even though I’m 99.9% certain of what I heard, I do not count it on my lists. Of course, it has been since May 29th that I lasted added a bird to my yearly Virginia Beach list (Black-necked Stilts), so I’m still stuck at 177 birds, with my goal having been 200 species at the beginning of the year. After trying and trying, I couldn’t find the Bobwhite, so I walked back along the road to where my car was parked, seeing some Orchard Orioles, and a pair of Eastern Meadowlarks, a nice surprise, along the way. Upon arriving at the vehicle, the Bobwhite called from the east again! So, I thought, this was my shot. I decided to do another loop of the park, so I could approach the Bobwhite from the direction where the wind would be at my face, keeping my sound & scent off the bird. Taking a half hour to walk the route, I was delighted that as I approached the spot again, the calls continued. Or so I thought. As I began to close in, the calls ceased, and I again felt the agony of having approached the bird too closely. Frustrated, I watched frantically across the fields for any sign of the bird, but it never showed itself. I walked back along the road a second time, reaching the car again, this time to no calls, so I headed out from the park. Of course, I’m extremely excited to have even heard one of these very tough to find birds (in Virginia Beach at least)! I have only seen a handful of them in my life, and only on one other occasion within the boundaries of Virginia Beach, having seen a small covey (flock) of them at Back Bay NWR in 2012 along the East Dike Trail. In that instance, I couldn’t even raise my camera before the disappeared into the underbrush. It wasn’t until a month or so ago that I finally photographed a pair up on the Eastern Shore, where they are a bit more common, though still hard to actually track down.

Obscure Birdwing Grasshoppers were all over the place at Princess Anne Wildlife Management Area upon our return to Virginia Beach on Sunday!

After leaving the park, I drove down some of the roads in Pungo, but couldn’t find any fields that were flooded. Actually, most of the fields are quite grown up right now with corn, making them actually poor sites to find shorebirds, so perhaps it will be after they are cultivated that I need to make my trips out that way again. Though, I will be checking on Princess Anne WMA again soon since I know when the shorebirds do make their appearance, it’ll be a great place to find a variety of species. Hopefully they begin descending on our area soon! It would really be nice to start moving my species count up from 177, since as I mentioned earlier, I have been stuck on it for over a month as the summer has slowed birding down a lot, and no new species tend to arrive to the area in June, save for a few species of seabirds that you cannot count on ever spotting from shore without a hurricane driving them into view. I gave that a shot last year on 4th of July actually since Hurricane Arthur was moving through, but we were on the weak side of the storm as it crossed the Outer Banks heading northeastward, so that didn’t yield any seabirds sadly. With no out of town vacations planned for the next few weeks at least, I should be able to get focused back on this website, and on getting out into the Coastal Virginia region that this site primarily focused on. Hopefully soon I can get up to see the Mississippi Kites that are nesting up in Thoroughgood, as my first attempt at finding them didn’t go so well earlier in the summer. Perhaps I’ll also nab my first Hairy Woodpecker and Chipping Sparrows, which have managed to hide from me all year thus far! I hope any readers enjoyed learning about Minnesota though, it is a place that I will always hold very dear, being the state that I first gained a love of nature from!

Several juvenile Great Blue Herons were sighted along the ditches of Princess Anne WMA on Sunday morning!