Week Ending July 27, 2014

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

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

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

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

Week Ending July 20, 2014

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

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

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

Double-crested Cormorant swimming in Pleasure House Creek.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Bottlenose Dolphin just offshore near Fort Story!!

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

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

Week Ending July 13, 2014

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Another hot, hot, hot & humid week this week in Hampton Roads! I spent Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday out in the field at work again doing this gas main survey up in Newport News & in Norfolk so once again, no hiking after work those days since I was purely drained by the time the day was over. On Wednesday evening, we had some pretty intense storms move through the area, dumping heavy rain, which I fortunately got to watch from the safety of my home after work. Had I not already been in my comfy, household clothes, I would have run down to some of my engineering project areas to see how the drainage systems I designed at work did at handling the huge amounts of rain. Fortunately for me though, I got another shot the very next day, as we had a huge line of storms move through again on Thursday afternoon/evening. This time, I left work early specifically to photograph some of the effects of the heavy rain. I won't go too into my sever weather outing in this supposed-to-be-wildlife-related-blog since I actually wrote up a whole other article about it for my job (can be found at www.rbnature.com/articles). But, I will say that while I was out near the oceanfront taking photographs of how the ditches were handling rainfall, and where the roadways were ponding and things of that nature, apparently an EF0 (lowest scale) tornado formed and blew down the same corridor I was at on Norfolk Avenue. The tornado actually snapped a few power poles in half, threw the steeple off a church, and pulled the roof off of a school gymnasium. I was not aware that this had occurred til I got home and put on the news, only to find out that I had only been a couple blocks away, but was unaware since the rain & wind were so bad everywhere around me. 

Mallard family along the East Dike Trail at Back Bay NWR!

On Friday morning, with all the nasty weather having subsided, I got a nice surprise on the way out to my car to head to work. A little gray kitten was sitting in my front yard, and it ran off under a parked vehicle upon me opening the door. I called for Ruth and she ran down to see it, and actually fed the little thing after I went off to work. We have talked about getting a pair of cats for a long time, and apparently seeing this little furball was all Ruth could handle. When I got home from work, she had talked to someone she knew about how we might be able to catch it, since it was obviously a stray cat. They brought a trap and a carrier over in case we could get it. Well, after going to dinner that night and coming home, the little kitten was back out in the yard and a neighbor was able to get it into a crate with some food, then close the door behind it. We took it immediately up to our screen porch and transferred it over to our borrowed cage, and got to welcome in a new member to the family! While they technically refer to strays as 'feral' cats, I'm saying this little kitten was a wild one, having survived a category 2 hurricane just the week before, and two back to back nights of intense thunderstorms, I'm amazed the it survived. Saturday morning we took the kitten to the vet to have it checked over. We found out that it was a boy, and quickly named him Buster! After his stint in the wild, Buster unfortunately had a bad bacterial infection and had worms in his belly, which was quite bloated. He also, not surprisingly, had fleas & ticks in a few spots on him, so the vet was nice enough to give him a bath (after he had some unexpected belly issues). We got the little guy on antibiotics which will hopefully clear up the bacterial infection, and he got a shot for the worms, and a spray for the fleas. Cleaned up, we brought our new little buddy home and set him up in the apartment. Most of Saturday was spent just keeping an eye on him, and holding him & petting him all day, so again, I didn't get out for any wildlife photography. 

Adult male Red-winged Blackbird singing along the East Dike.

On Sunday though, we felt a bit more comfortable leaving him alone for a couple of hours, and since we hadn't gotten out all week really, we went down to Sandbridge so Ruth could go to the beach, and so I could hike at Back Bay NWR. We arrived before the crowds, a little before 9 AM, so had no trouble getting to the parks (go at 11 AM sometime and enjoy that fun). My first interesting sighting at the park was an Indigo Bunting singing from high up in a tree along the Loop Road's west side, very close to the visitor center. Shortly after I saw a Common Yellowthroat, then another, also singing from treetrops. I was finally able to see them & hear their song together that I think it's now stuck in my memory, so I can add another warbler to the list of birds I just have to hear to properly ID. They sound like they're saying "What-did-you-do!" very quickly, though most website say it's a "wichety-wichety-wichety". Since the East Dike Trail opened up, it'll be open until fall-time, so I'll be on the opposite side of the park from where I enjoyed seeing so many species this spring. The East Dike feels a little more desolate than the other side does, since there is really only a small amount of water on one side of the trail, the marshes on the west side aren't visible this time of year due to how tall the vegetation has now grown. After entering from the Loop Road to the East Dike I could see a number of white birds off in the nearest marsh to the observation building.

Flowers & vegetation are at full growth across the region. 

It turned out to be a mixed group of Cattle Egrets and immature Little Blue Herons. Both species are first on the year for me in Virginia Beach, though I've seen them in the past, and elsewhere in the state this year (Chincoteague). After continuing south for probably a half mile, I got a good look at two White-tailed Deer that were far out in the marshes, before they quickly disappeared into the tall grasses that is. Next up was a group of seven not fully adult Mallards, that were all tucked into the bank and barely visible, except for all their heads sticking up just slightly enough to give away their position. I photographed them for a bit but ended up leaving so I didn't scare them into flight, something I'm working harder on all the time, trying to get good photos, while not disturbing the animals. Just to the south, the dike trail takes two 90 degree bends to the west, then to the south. At this spot, a pair of nesting Red-winged Blackbirds provided great photo opportunities as they hopped from shrub to shrub, flying short distances and almost hovering in the air for me. I grabbed a quick drink of water here (yet another hot & humid day out), and then stumbled upon a midsize Eastern Cottonmouth that was resting in a vehicle tire track that had partially pooled with water. The venomous snake slowly slithered off into the grass alongside the pool and then disappeared from view, even though it was only a few week away. This time of year the snakes are a lot harder to find since it is so hot everywhere, they don't need to focus on laying in open areas to control body temperatures, any place will suffice. Having said that, I was glad to have seen this one, since the last outing I didn't see any.

A Golden-winged Skimmer, who was kind enough to pose with a nice background at Back Bay.

Now that I'm writing this, I didn't really notice any turtles in the park either, which now seems odds to me since the canals are usually full of Yellow-bellied Sliders. I kept on heading southward til just before the False Cape State Park sign, then turned around and headed back up the dike trail northward. The southernmost marsh, east of the dike, had a Great Egret & a Great Blue Heron wandering around in it, but I didn't see any Prairie Warblers in this area this week like I had the last time out. I did however hear more Common Yellowthroats, helping to solidify their song in my head for the next trip out. On the way back, there was more folks out riding bikes and walking as well, so it wasn't as eventful wildlife wise. The blackbirds were still present, and I again took some more shots of them, and also, the 7 duck family was still hiding, though this time I didn't take any shots since I didn't want to give their hiding spot away for the next group of people walking behind me. Hopefully they went unseen, as they did with the group immediately in front of me, who clearly had no idea they were even there. Near the ducks I also saw a Northern Watersnake swimming up the canal, the second such sighting in my last two outings. 

An adult female Red-winged Blackbird calling along the East Dike with her mate, pictured above.

It quickly darted to the side though and went up into the grass where I couldn't spot it again. When I got back to the Loop Road, I opted to take the boardwalk down to the beach to see if any interesting sea & shorebirds were visible. The usual gulls & Brown Pelicans were all over, but I did get to see my first Sandwich Terns of the year, with their black head & bills with just a little yellow at the tip. I saw several as they coasted down the shoreline picking off stray fish at the waters surface by diving quickly down from the sky. What I thought to be an approaching duck of some sort, actually turned out to be my second Whimbrel at the park this season, and this was probably my neatest sighting of the day. Seeing it flying fast by me with its massively downcurved bill out ahead of it was very interesting. Lots of folks were out on the beach shorefishing this time, which I'm not so used to the rest of the year, especially in wintertime when I love going to the park birding. I cut back up at the north end to the parking area, and did a quick loop on the Bay Trail. No King Rail or Green Treefrogs hiding along the Bay Trail today though unfortunately. After getting back to the car, I was pretty beat from the heat, so I picked Ruth up instead of going down to the beach like I usually do. That and we both wanted to get to see how the kitten was doing on his own. When we got home he seemed more upbeat, and was even starting to play a little bit by Sunday night so things were hopefully looking up for him. The infection still worries me though since the vets wouldn't place him on a care plan since they weren't sure if he'd survive long term yet. Hopefully he keeps getting better each day, now that he has a nice place to live & a steady stream of food & people to cuddle up to!

My first Sandwich Tern of the year. Note the yellow tip to the bill, this was seen over the Atlantic Ocean just offshore of Back Bay NWR.

Week Ending July 6, 2014

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This week, the full fury of summer's heat hit the area. All throughout the week, weather reached high into the 90s with dangerous heat indices over 100 several days. On Monday, I wrapped up my big project at work that I've been designing off and on for the last six years. Since I finished it up and got it submitted to the City of Virginia Beach, I needed something new to switch over too. Right now my company is working on a job for Virginia Natural Gas, where we are designing new gas mains through a few hundred miles of older neighborhoods. In order to do the designs, we have to have crews go out in the neighborhoods & take measurements to all objects that could end up being in the way (trees, fences, poles, water/sewer/storm mains, electric lines, etc.). Since I needed work, I spent the remainder of the work week out in the field performing these tasks. I had done some of this work earlier in the year when we had temperatures in the teens coupled with snow, now its exactly the opposite, and about 85 degrees warmer. So after working outside all day in the heat it was a little tough to get out hiking. On Thursday, we wrapped up pretty early in the day, and I went up to Pleasure House Point after work just to see if I could photograph anything interesting. It was close to 100 degrees though and I only stayed out for an hour or so because of it. I also managed to hit the park at high tide, like I usually seem too.

Great Egret & fresh caught fish at Pleasure House Point!

Unfortunately, when the tide is high, there aren't as many shorebirds since there is no visible mud flats for them to wade around and feed. I did see the typical birds though, Great Egrets and Yellow-crowned Night-Herons. Also, there was Ospreys up in the air high up, and I did hear some Clapper Rails screaming out in the tidal grasses offshore. I ended up parking along Marlin Bay Drive this time and walked west to east first, a reverse of my typical route. But as I said, it was so hot out that it was pretty unbearable, so my hike didn't last all that long. Thursday evening, Ruth's sister Heather & her nephew Christopher came into town for the holiday weekend. Also visiting the area overnight was the first hurricane of the Atlantic 2014 season, Hurricane Arthur. They first started tracking the storm on June 30th late at night, when it formed off the coast of Florida. It slowly moved is way north to northeast up the east coast and on Thursday evening it made landfall across Hatteras Island in the Outer Banks as a category 2 storm with winds clocked at 100 mph. The Outer Banks had some severe flooding, but because the storm came in from the southwest, the storm surge wasn't what it could have been and therefore there wasn't any loss of life. Route 12 which runs down the Outer Banks didn't get fully knocked out as it has by past storms (Sandy, Irene, Isabelle, etc.) and folks were allowed back in the area on Saturday. Friday morning I woke up about 6 to see if we were getting any bad rain and wind, and then Ruth & I went down to the oceanfront to see what the sea looked like. We also drove through Shadowlawn (the area where I just completed my design project) to see how the roads were handling the rainfall.

Mallard Ducklings swimming up a rainwater stream produced by Hurricane Arthur.

Everything was fine, and we found a family of Mallard ducklings swimming in one of the roadside ditches in a fast flowing rainwater stream! At this point, the storm was already tracking out to sea, and we were getting strong north winds so it wasn't as choppy as it probably had been earlier when the wind was being directed right at the coastline. There waves were still churning pretty good off Rudee Inlet, and I'd hoped to maybe see some less common bird species due to the storm. I did see one adult male Black Scoter in the inlet, but other than that it was just the typical gulls & terns along the coast. After leaving the oceanfront, we went up to Shore Drive, where the wind & rain were really squalling. There was almost no beach visible along the bay due to the strong north winds that were piling up water along the shore. This north wind also pushed a lot of water from the bay into the Lynnhaven River, where it flooded inland higher than normal. We drove around our neighborhood so I could check out some areas to see if they had bad flooding but everything in Kings Grant seemed to have done fine with the weather, just a lot of leaves and small branches littering the street. There is two main reasons why I'm interested in these strong storms, 1). because they can push rare birds to areas that don't typically have them, and 2). because I'm a drainage engineer and I like to see the systems I've helped to design be put to a real test, which is only possible during tropical weather & nor'easters. 

Yellow-crowned Night-Heron & a freshly caught Blue Crab at Pleasure House Point!

The storm moved through the area very quickly and by afternoon it was actually a beautiful, non-humid, sunny day across the area. We grabbed a late brunch with Heather & Christopher at Panera and then I decided to head to Pleasure House Point again, just hoping to maybe see something rare from the storm. This time I parked in my typical spot off Dinwiddie Road and walked from east to west along the water. The water was again extremely high, flooding into all the freshwater ponds of the park and bringing in a surprising amount of jellyfish. The Yellow-crowned Night-Herons were really active today, and I photographed one that had just recently caught a huge Blue Crab. It was perched in a tree with it & unfortunately I think I spooked it into dropping the crab. Hopefully it picked it up off the ground right after I left it though. There was a number of Osprey & Great Egrets just like the day before. I also saw one very large Cicada perched on a small pine tree. It was buzzing continuously and I finally was able to locate it, but I'd never have seen it had it not been so noisy. Clapper Rails weren't calling at all this time in the marshes, but after having passed the area I like to crab, I did catch a quick glimpse of a Black Skimmer as it flew past. This is the first one I've seen in Virginia Beach this year, bringing my city total up to 144 species of birds in 2014. 

An unusually still Least Tern about to take off from the north end of the Virginia Beach Oceanfront.

On Saturday, we took Heather & Christopher to the zoo in Norfolk, so I didn't get out on a typical walk. However, after we left the zoo, I saw a Cooper's Hawk sitting on top of what was probably a starling in the parking area, so I did get to see some wildlife out of the trip. I did also see a few geese in the Elephant area, and a couple of Gray Catbirds in some other exhibits. Also, there is a small pond that flows in from the Lafayette River, and it was loaded with turtles and Canada Geese that weren't part of the zoo. After the zoo, we stopped for a pizza, and then came home and Ruth & I fell asleep for a couple hours. Saturday night, though it was the 5th of July, was the night that most of the local cities were shooting off their fireworks, since the approaching hurricane caused them to be postponed from the 4th of July. Ruth had tickets for us at Town Point Park in Norfolk to be in the VIP area where they had free food & drinks for everyone so it was nice to watch the fireworks from there for the first time, after having spent the last 5 years watching them from my apartment at the Hague. Before the fireworks started, a beautiful half Moon was visible in the southern sky, and I used the star map app on Ruth's iPhone to confirm that the star very near it was actually not a star, and was the planet Mars. So when we got home after the show, I went out and shot a few photographs of the Moon & Mars with my camera, the first time I've photographed a planet with my wildlife lens! 

Ring-billed Gull seen over the Oceanfront.

After seeing Heather & Christopher off on Sunday morning, Ruth & I went down to the north end of the Oceanfront & parked on 88th Street. It was extremely nice to get into the water after being boiling in the heat all week long. A pod of Bottlenose Dolphins was playing around just offshore as well which made it even better being out. Like I usually do at the beach, I got bored after an hour or so & decided to walk north along the beach onto Fort Story's property hoping to catch some birds with my camera. Since we were at the north end of the public beaches, it was very nice to just walk a bit and be able to again see some wildlife. Right away, a pair of Least Terns was seen sitting on the beach, and its the first time I've been able to actually get clear shots of them, since typically they are flying around and performing aerial acrobatics. I took quite a few photos of them, and then a lot of the Ghost Crabs that inhabit the beach also. They were very active, running all over the place on the beach. A number of Brown Pelicans were seen as well, and the typical Laughing, Ring-billed, Herring & Great Black-backed Gulls & Royal Terns were all in the air as well. Unfortunately I never did find any rare birds as a result of Hurricane Arthur, but hopefully we get another good storm sometime this summer that could bring some in. It'd be really neat to see some true pelagic birds like shearwaters or petrels inland after a storm. After walking the beach for probably a mile, I got back in the water again, then walked it all over again with Ruth. This time, we saw a Great Black-backed Gull feasting on what looked like a massive dead fish out on the water. I got some more shots of the Ghost Crabs, some showing off their camouflage in all it's glory, which looks very much like the sand particles of the beach so that birds flying overhead can't see them. The Least Terns weren't on the beach this time, but we did see several of them flying out over the water. When winter comes around again, I'll have to get out along this beach to see if any migrating birds make it a stopping ground. In the past I know that folks have seen Snow Buntings on the beach around Fort Story, so that would be very neat to see. Hot weather is expected to continue all week long, and I will again be working in the field so after work hikes probably aren't going to happen since I'll already be burnt out from the day in the sun. Hopefully next weekend though I'm able to get out for some longer hikes, though I did at least get some interesting shots this weekend & I had a great time with Ruth's family as well.

An Atlantic Ghost Crab showing off it's beautiful camouflage that keeps it invisible to birds overhead.