Week Ending August 24, 2014

/

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

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

Week Ending August 17, 2014

/

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Week Ending August 10, 2014

/

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

Ruddy Turnstone in breeding colors on the beach!

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

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

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

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

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

Forster's Tern along Cape Henry in Virginia Beach!

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

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

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

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

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

Horace's Duskywing at Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge!

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

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

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

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

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

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

Week Ending August 3, 2014

/

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

Common Buckeye seen at Pleasure House Point!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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