Week Ending September 21, 2014

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I'm very excited to announce that I will finally be in the Hampton Roads area for a full week this week! I returned home to Virginia Beach from my trip up to Boone, North Carolina late on Sunday (9/14) evening, and now get to hopefully venture out into our local outdoors looking for some wildlife this week. Over the weekend I got my 201st species of 2014, which is now a new personal best after seeing 200 species on the dot last year in 2013. The bird that put me over was a beautiful Blue-headed Vireo (photo featured in the last blog posted). I was very happy that after the first night of my good buddy's bachelor party I was up at 7 AM to see the sun rise in the mountains, and was rewarded with some great sights of migrating songbirds, including Black-throated Green Warblers, American Redstarts, Chestnut-sided Warbler, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, and the aforementioned Vireo! Now back to Hampton Roads... On Monday, overcast weather, a lot of work to do at my job, and this ongoing nasty cough (presumably allergy related since I always get sick for a week or two this time of year) unfortunately kept me stuck inside. On Monday, the Kiptopeke State Park Hawk Watch continued showing good results, with 80 American Kestrels and 47 Ospreys as the leaders. Merlins, Broad-winged, Sharp-shinned & Cooper's Hawks were all seen as well, so as I keep saying in my blogs, its a great time to see some raptors if you head up to the Eastern Shore. Songbirds were on the move as well on Monday, with Tim Fearington posting some great shots to our Facebook group of Northern Parula, Yellow Warbler, and Red-eyed Vireo from his outing at Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge in Virginia Beach. I anticipate there being a lot more photos of songbirds posted this week from Back Bay, Weyanoke, and First Landing on the Southside, and any of the parks (Kiptopeke, Eastern Shore NWR, Magnothy Bay, etc) on the Eastern Shore.

Variegated Fritillary seen at Pleasure House Point!

Tuesday and Wednesday were busy days for me so I didn't make it out at all unfortunately. Thursday though, I headed up to Pleasure House Point after work, and go there about 5 o'clock. I parked along Marlin Bay and headed eastward so that the sun on the horizon would be at my back. I'm saddened to say you can visibly see the change in light after work now, as we are heading into fall and the days are getting much shorter. Soon, once daylight savings time kicks in, I will no longer be able to get out photographing wildlife after work hours, my least favorite couple months of the year. But at least for now I get a couple hours of photography in still. Anyway, at Pleasure House Point, the first birds I came across along the coastal trail were Yellow-crowned Night-Herons. They are very numerous in the park, most of them being immature birds. The tide was all the way up this time, and again even higher than a normal high tide cycle thanks to persistent onshore (northeasterly) winds over the last few days. Because of the high high tide, no exposed mudflats or shorelines were visible along the park, which eliminates the capability of shorebirds to feed around the park. However, this same problem, also turned out to be of great benefit to me.

My first Palm Warbler sighting of the season, made easy to ID by the yellow undertail coverts.

Along the south side of the park, near the marshy islands, I had a pair of sparrows continuously moving from shrub to shrub along the water, and I spend a good half hour or more chasing them around slowly trying to get a clean shot at one. I believe them to be the same species when I saw them in the field, but after reviewing a whole bunch of hard to see photographs, I was able to decipher that they were indeed two different species, the first a Seaside Sparrow, only my second such sighting in my life, and in the same location as the first just a month ago. The second bird, turned out to be a Saltmarsh Sparrow, very similar to a Nelson's Sparrow, but with a much more white throat and chest. The Saltmarsh was the first one I've ever seen, so I got to add another lifer to my list, something I was not expecting upon leaving work just a couple hours prior. Thanks to the high water, the available real estate to hide amongst was greatly decreased, wich allowed me to see them much better than I could have if the water was low, and they could get into the undercut banks and foliage to hide. Aside from the sparrows, there wasn't a whole lot of activity out at the park. I could hear numerous Clapper Rails cackling out in the marshes, but with the high water, there was nowhere to see them run out in the open. Typical birds were there, like Royal Terns, Laughing/Ring-billed Gulls, Brown Pelicans, etc. I did run into Kathy Spencer for the first time so it was nice to also get to meet her out at the park. I ended up heading out about 6:30 PM or so, and the light was already noticeably getting darker so basically, I get an hour and a half after 5 PM to do things outdoors right now, and it will slowly slip away to nothing over the next 6 weeks or so, very saddening. 

Sanderling rooting around one of many, many masses of washed up vegetation due to high winds this week.

On Friday, I brought my gear to work so I could leave right away. I headed down to Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge in southeastern Virginia Beach at 3 PM. Earlier in the day several folks had reported lots of snakes being sighting around the contact station area. They were definitely accurate. While walking the Bay Trail, I very quickly found a Black Racer that had slithered quickly off the trail, with just it's tail still visible. Just a few minutes later, I got my first Eastern Cottonmouth sighting of the day. This snake, about 3 feet long or so, was right off it the vegetation next to the gravel trail near where the boardwalk hits it. It was a little unnerving since I didn't see the snake til I was about 10-15 feet away from it. Their brown coloring matches the color of the dying water reeds this time of year and it will get continually more difficult to spot them as the weather changes. But, they also won't be out for too much longer as the weather cools off into fall. Right now, they're all out in the open trying to suck up as much heat from the sun or ground as they can. During the heat of summer, they tend to move off into other areas of the park since it's hot everywhere, and they can maintain their body temperatures with ease. Spring and Fall appear to be best if trying to locate these snakes, and it also lines up correctly with when Back Bay NWR offers their reptile walks that Liza Eckhardt leads. It turned out that there was actually a schedule walk Friday as well, as I ran into Liza about an hour before it was going to start. She pointed out another large Cottonmouth near the end of the Bay Trail that was coiled up and sitting next to the small freshwater pond. This one was in the process of molting, and it's eye was showing a solid blue color due to the skin starting to off the head. Nearby, a group of 3 or 4 small snakes molts were seen, presumably from a whole batch of youngsters that was molting for the first time before leaving their nest area.

A nymph Katydid seen at Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge!

Liza also pointed out a couple of Obsure Birdwing Grasshopper, which are absolutely giant, probably 4 or 5 inches in length. After walking back down the Bay Trail I had a songbird fly in fast over top of me and land in a small evergreen. I followed it around and was able to identify it as a Palm Warbler in fall plumage, a first for me in 2014. After, I did a loop around the Loop Road, finding just a Great Blue Heron, a couple of Belted Kingfishers, and an American Crow. I thought I might run into some more warblers but unfortunately this was not the case. It was pretty windy out, and that might have the smaller birds sticking to heavy vegetation. I didn't hear any Prairie Warblers off in the scrub area of the park either, so they must all be gone already and headed further south. With the songbirds clearly not out, I went down to the beach in the hopes of at least finding some shorebirds. The standards were all out there...Willets/Sanderling, gulls, terns, pelicans, cormorants, etc., but nothing unusual was present along the beach unfortunately. So I headed back up and over the dunes towards the parking area, photographing a beautiful Viceroy (very similar to a Monarch) on the way. I knew the reptile walk was going on so I just tried to avoid whatever crowd it attracted by walking the Bay Trail just to the Bayside Trail and back around to the visitor center area. Here I found yet another Cottonmouth, outstretched on the trail in the same location that the American Bittern was hanging out in all winter last year. This Cottonmouth was quite girthy, apparently having been well fed recently. I did a 180 and walked all the way around to try to get in a better spot for photos with the sun behind me. When I got to it's spot, it was no longer there. That's not a fun feeling, thinking it must have gotten into the brush somewhere nearby, but noone its there watching you. I did spot it finally and it then went out onto the small pond, swimming across the surface gracefully thanks to it's large body which floated very well. I took a few shots and then headed off home. Saturday & Sunday we had overcast skies so I worked hard pretty much all day long on updating the website, moving things around, and I finally completed putting species ID tags into all 70,000+ photographs I've taken over the last 5 years, so now I can just type a bird name in on my computer, and it'll show me all the times I've photographed them. This will greatly help me in completing my Photo ID Guide here on the website so its nice to finally have all that out of the way. The next few are looking cloudy as well but hopefully I can get out after work at least sometime during the week.

Eastern Cottonmouth showing just how buoyant their large, girthy, bodies can be.

Week Ending September 14, 2014

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Though I was out of town over the past weekend in Nashville, Tennessee, and didn't make it back to Virginia Beach until late Monday night, I heard a lot about how much rain we had over the weekend. On Monday, some parts of the area reported 4-5 inches of rain, which is an incredible amount in a 24-hour timespan! Thanks to this nasty weather to start the week, I'm sure not too many folks ventured out to seek out wildlife. Even at the Hawkwatch site at Kiptopeke State Park on the Eastern Shore, only 2 raptors (1 Osprey & 1 Merlin) were observed on Monday. So, for the sake of wildlife viewing, I'm not too bummed that I was traveling back to Virginia beach on Monday, but I do love a good downpour, so I still wish I'd been here to see it. Rainfall is kind of the reason I do the full time job I do (hydraulic engineer), and flooding control is my specialty so it's very interesting to me when I get to see just what nature can conjure up against engineered systems like storm drain culverts & inlets. The weather hung around for Tuesday as well, and yet again resulted in another slow day at the Hawkwatch site, though much better than the prior day with a total of 29 raptors sighted. No new species were recorded, but a Peregrine Falcon (only the 3rd thus far this season) was seen. Wednesday, the weather finally took a turn for the better and it was quite a gorgeous day out. As my luck would have it, and I'm going to blame this on all the traveling and running around I've had to do recently, I came down with either a cold or a nasty bout of fall allergies. So another day for me of not getting outdoors, and it was the perfect day to get out, the Hawkwatch sighted 275 raptors, the most in a single day thus far this season! Among the raptors included the first Swainson's Hawk sighting of the season, a species that shows up in small numbers during migration but is typically a more western species, and a bird that I've never had the pleasure of seeing.

Black-throated Green Warbler, one of many migrant songbirds I saw while out of town this weekend. Folks have been reporting numerous species in Hampton Roads this week as well.

There was also a lot of reports of huge numbers of shorebirds out on flooded farmfields across southern Virginia Beach on Tuesday and Wednesday, though I've been told the birds have since moved off as the field have totally dried up now. Thursday, continuing my illness, I missed out on my final chance for the week to get out and about in the area. Unfortunately, though I'm excited, I'll be heading out of town Friday around lunchtime to head up to the mountains of North Carolina for a good buddy's bachelor party at a cabin near Grandfather Mountain. I'm hoping to get out to do some hiking along the Blue Ridge Parkway on Saturday and maybe Sunday before we head back, but will not have any further personal observations to report on from the Hampton Roads area as a result. I am also hoping that whatever is causing me to not feel so hot the past few days will relinquish it's hold on me so I can enjoy the weekend with my friends. 

Another migrant songbird, the beautiful Blue-headed Vireo.

On Friday, I made the trip out to Boone, NC with my friend Chris, who is getting married in October, and chose to have a bachelor party out here in the mountains at a cabin with three of his groomsmen (myself included). Friday night, still not feeling well from whatever I caught this week, I went to bed pretty early compared to the other guys, around 11 PM. Because of this, I was up right at 6 AM like I usually am, which was welcomed. Everyone else was still sleeping through the morning, so I spent some time out on the back porch of the cabin, which was on the second floor of the building, and looked down on the treetops below. I hadn’t expected much, given that it was a dreary, on-again off-again rainy morning, but I started to see songbirds almost immediately. For a couple of hours, I walked the grounds of the cabin (the Kumbaya Cabin, officially known), and I managed to pick up quite a number of migrants starting to make their way south for the coming winter. Black-throated Green Warblers, Blue-headed Vireos, Blue-gray Gnatcatchers, American Redstarts, Chestnut-sided Warbler and Ruby-throated Hummingbirds were all seen, better than I could have anticipated. By the time the other guys had gotten up and moving, I’d probably taken 200 photographs and seen 20 odd species of birds from the porch. Once ready, we grabbed lunch at a local bbq joint, which was not very good, and then three of us headed out to Grandfather Mountain State Park. About the time we reached the park, the clouds actually broke and the sun began to come out, just in time! We parked on the way up the mountain side and then hiked the last 500’ or so elevation change to the swinging bridge at the top. This was Chris’ and his friend Mike’s first time to the park, to which they were shocked by the $20 admission fee per person (as was I), but, they were amazed by the views from the top so at least everyone was happy. There is apparently a Hawk Watch program here at the park similar to the one at Kiptopeke, and when I spotted a Red-tailed Hawk, someone radioed to the team that one was sighted coming down the mountain. They ran past us as we exited the Mile High Bridge and went back down to the parking area. We stopped down at the zoo section of the park, saw the bears, and actually the Cougars as well, then headed out down the Blue Ridge Parkway southward towards Linville Falls. At Linville, we walked the typical trails out to the first two overlooks, finding the river flowing quite full and some of the trails being a sloppy mess. We headed back again to the car, this time driving back to the cabin for dinner.

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, one of the most hyper songbirds you can find, rarely sitting still for more than a split second...I got lucky on this one.

On Sunday, we got an early start, and stopped halfway in Burlington, NC to watch part of the first NFL games of the day, but then made it home about 4 PM or so to Virginia Beach. I did some catching up on what was going on around my area while I was out of town and the Hawk Watch site at Kiptopeke reported huge numbers of raptors moving down the Eastern Shore with over 500 Ospreys being sighted on Saturday & Sunday. Sharp-shinned and Cooper's Hawks also look to have begun showing up now as 130 of the two species were counted, and 446 American Kestrels were seen as well. Sunday also proved to be the best day so far for Northern Harriers, Red-tailed Hawks, and Broad-winged Hawks as well. Interestingly, while I was out in the mountains I had gone up to Grandfather Mountain and found out that it also is a hawk watch site. I spotted a Red-tailed Hawk and a park worker radioed it down to the team, whom I later saw running up the mountain to try and spot it, though it doesn't appear they recorded it in their counts, I plan to send in a photograph that I took of the bird as soon as I get a chance too. It also seems that the same birds I was seeing out in the mountains were being seen around here on their migrations as well. Warblers appear to be the big ones that people have been focusing on, with lots of beautiful photographs being added to Facebook over the weekend, especially from Weyanoke Bird Sanctuary in Norfolk. Many warbler species like Common Yellowthroats, Prairie, Palm, Black-and-White, Magnolia, and Black-throated Blue Warblers have been sighted in Hampton Roads. With Craney Island now open every other Saturday for birders, this has also become a hotspot for seeing fall migrants. This week, folks reported an Eared Grebe, a Buff-breasted Sandpiper, and Wilson's & Red-necked Phalaropes as well. This coming week I should be able to put together a bit better of a blog since I will finally be in town for a weekend and hope to get out hiking quite a bit. It seems that everything is now on the move south so the migration is really starting to get going, and there should be some great sightings over the next week as well!

The view from Grandfather Mountain looking east down the slopes of the Blue Ridge.

Week Ending September 7, 2014

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Week Ending August 31, 2014

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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