The Carolina Bird Club (CBC) had originally scheduled its January 2022 meeting for the NC Outer Banks. But the Omicron Covid variant had other ideas. Unfortunately, Covid numbers started to peak just before the meeting, and the CBC not surprisingly cancelled the meeting. I was really looking forward to the guided field trips, not only to bird the coast, but to also learn about how to bird the area in general. But if the Covid numbers dropped quickly, maybe I could squeeze in a trip to the coast on my own, perhaps in late February.
And just as I had hoped, the numbers did indeed improve into
February. So I started to plan a 4-day
trip to the upper NC coast and southeastern VA.
Given the long travel times to get to the coast that would give me 2
full days of birding at the coast but just a couple hours on the travel
days. It turned out that I was free
February 14 to 17, which lined up nicely with some dry but chilly weather. This was starting to come together.
Then came the research into possible statebirds. There were a few rarities being seen in both
states, along with a number of regular species I still needed for my state
lists. After quite a bit of research,
and with nearly last-minute updates to chase newly reported rarities, I came up
with the following tentative itinerary –
·
2/14 – travel to the NC coast at Wrightsville
Beach for stakeout Mountain Bluebird and Long-tailed Ducks, then late afternoon
birding at the Alligator NWR for an elusive Ash-throated Flycatcher, along with
Golden Eagle and Rough-legged Hawk that were occasionally reported
·
2/15 – birding on the OBX starting with a
seawatch at Cape Point, then time searching for a recently reported Snowy Owl
near the Oregon Inlet campground, then another seawatch at Jennette’s Pier
·
2/16 – an action-packed day in southeastern VA
with stops for a number of stakeouts (Bullock’s Oriole, Brewer’s Blackbird,
Iceland Gull, and Common Eider) along with a seawatch at Ruddee Inlet, searches
for Vesper Sparrows in Northampton County, and ending the day for Woodcocks at the
Eastern Shore of VA NWR
·
2/17 – a seawatch at dawn at Little Island Park
before starting the drive home
And with that itinerary I hoped for perhaps 4 or 5 new
statebirds in each state.
This blog post summarizes the VA portion of my trip. The NC portion was summarized in the previous
post.
February 16 – Stakeouts and Hotspots in Southeastern VA
The plan for the day was to make stops at 4 locations for
stakeout rarities, plus general birding at 4 other locations. All these spots were pretty close to each
other, meaning driving time wasn’t too extensive. So, with a little luck, I would have enough
time to search for all my targets.
The first stop was for a long-staying Bullock’s Oriole at a
feeder in Chesapeake. The immature male
bird had been coming to a backyard feeding station, along with an immature
Baltimore Oriole. With a bit of research
I found the contact information for the homeowner, Deb Shelton, and reached out
to her for permission to look for her bird.
She was most gracious, and invited me into her backyard to look for the
Orioles. She said that they were very
active at the feeders early in the morning, and since this was the rarest of my
targets, I decided to make that my first stop of the day.
I arrived just before 7:30 and met Deb outside her
house. She described how both Orioles
often fed together, showed me their favorite perch tree, mentioned that they
often came in first for a peanut, etc.
She really knew her birds. Armed
with lots of great information, I made my way to the back deck to start my
vigil. But it didn’t take long. Within 5 minutes I spotted an Oriole fly in
from the left – it was the Baltimore.
And then right on cue the Bullock’s Oriole flew in a few seconds later
(statebird #1). It perched in the
backyard for a minute or two, then flew to the feeders to grab a peanut – just
as Deb said he would. I got this picture
with my cellphone and no magnification.
A poor excuse for a photo I’m afraid, especially compared to this exceptional photo taken by Deb Shelton.
I can’t thank Deb enough for her hospitality and of course for setting up such a nice feeding station that attracted those Orioles!
My statebird map for Bullock’s Oriole is inserted
below. The states where I’ve seen this
species in its regular range are shaded in blue. And now NC is the 7th state where I’ve seen
Bullock’s Oriole as a rarity (shaded in tan).
I hated to “bird and run”, but I had lots of other targets to try for. I bade farewell to Deb, and then headed off to my next stakeout for Brewer’s Blackbird in Virginia Beach. The eBird hotspot I was heading to was called “Breeze Farms (Brewer’s Blackbird Spot)”. With a name like that how could I go wrong? The hotspot was a small farm with various types of farm animals in small pens. This was classic Brewer’s habitat, and as a result this had become a regular spot for them from December to March since 2016.
Along the way I passed by lots of ag fields which I scanned
for my VA nemesis bird – Wild Turkey.
That was by far the most common bird I still needed for my VA state
list. But rarely are Turkeys in stakeout
locations. Instead, you typically just
run into them. And I kept my eyes peeled
for them as I drove by every field, though luck never seemed to be on my side.
Now back to the Brewer’s - many of the recent sightings
mentioned them being perched in trees, and as I pulled up I noticed one tall
deciduous tree in the middle of the farm.
That must be the one. There was a
small flock of Starlings up there, but I didn’t notice any Blackbirds. But then the Starlings flew off leaving one lone
Blackbird behind. It was either a female
Cowbird or Brewer’s, but it flew off before I could get conclusive scope
views. This wasn’t looking good… But then I noticed a small flock of birds
near the ground in one of the pens. The
flock rose above the fencing and I could see it was a mixed Blackbird-Starling
flock. Most of the birds settled back in
the pen out of view but 3 birds landed on the top railing. With the scope I could pick out 2 male and 1
female Brewer’s Blackbirds (statebird #2).
I watched a bit longer and the entire flock flew up again – this time I
could make out about 10 blackbirds though couldn’t be sure of the IDs before
the entire group settled back in the pen out of sight. I likely had 10 Brewer’s but could only be
sure of 3.
VA is now the 4th state after NC, SC, and GA where I’ve seen Brewer’s Blackbirds since moving to the region. And I still need it in a few other states where it’s regular (the cross-hatched states in my statebird map below). Although I have VA coded as a state out of their regular range based on range maps in the field guides, they sure seem to be regular at least at this one spot in VA.
Next I was on to Ruddee Inlet where an Iceland Gull has been seen irregularly with the local Ring-bills. Along the way I once again kept my eyes open for Turkeys – and once again came up empty. When I arrived at Rudee Inlet there was a small flock of Ring-bills in the parking lot, but no Iceland. I had brought a loaf of bread along with me as gull bait, and was able to double the size of the flock with a few offerings, but still no Iceland. I checked a couple nearby gull flocks close to the inlet and up the beach but still couldn’t find my target.
So now my focus shifted to doing a seawatch from the
inlet. The water was quite smooth and
visibility was great, so I was hopeful I might pick out something good. But alas, there was very little activity –
just a few Gannets, Cormorants, and Red-throated Loons. But then a bit later I spotted an alcid
flying low to the water. It was pretty
far out but I could tell I had a Razorbill.
And a bit later another Razorbill flew by much closer (statebird
#4). As I always say – it’s quality not
quantity. Razorbill is typically the
most common alcid on the East Coast, and I’ve now seen it in 8 of 11 coastal states
from NC northward.
Happy with my seawatch results I went back to searching for the Iceland Gull but again just found Ring-bills. It turns out the Iceland was last seen the day before on the 15th.
The next stop was only a short distance away at Lynnhaven
Inlet where a female Common Eider had spent most of the winter. I got some good intelligence about where to
look and where to bird from, and the inlet was reasonably small, so I was
cautiously optimistic. But after a lot of
searching I came up empty. I even tried
an additional vantage spot with no luck.
That was 2 misses in a row. At
least I was on schedule for the rest of my stops.
My remaining 3 stops were in Northampton County across the
Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel (CBBT).
You’re no longer allowed to stop on the islands of the CBBT, which can
be pretty good birding. So I just kept
my eyes open as I crossed the mouth of the Chesapeake just in case something
nice was flying by. My first target when
I got back onto land was Vesper Sparrow.
There had been 2 reports of as many as 45 Vespers in a couple fields
along Arlington Road. Though there were
no details, and the reports were now 2-3 weeks old, so I was less optimistic
about this one. I pulled into the first
spot and found an excellent set of fields with short-cut sparse vegetation -
perfect for Vespers. I parked on the
shoulder and started walking along the edge of the field hoping to run into
some sparrows. But after a 20-minute
walk I had just 1 Song. As I headed back
to the car a car pulled up and asked what I was doing. He nicely said it was private land and
suggested that I head out.
With that experience I just birded from the road at the
second spot, and found a couple Horned Larks, but still no sparrows. Then I drove some nearby roads with good
sparrow habitat though struck out there too.
And of course, I kept my eyes open for Turkeys though with similar
results.
It was now late in the afternoon and I hoped I could reverse
my latest streak and end my day on a high note.
My last target was American Woodcock at the Eastern Shore of VA
NWR. There was one recent Woodcock
report from the refuge, with 13 birds displaying at dusk. And although that report was now nearly 3
weeks old, I expected that they were nesting in the area and would still be
active during my visit. I arrived at the
refuge at about 4:30 and did a little birding around the wetlands and woods
while waiting for dusk.
A general rule of thumb is that Woodcocks begin to call 20
minutes after sunset. Sunset that day
was 5:45 so I likely had to wait till just after 6 for some sightings. As sunset neared I positioned myself along the
south side of Hallett Circle in what looked like nice Woodcock habitat.
A nice flight of Robins and Blackbirds heading to roost and a distant calling Clapper Rail kept me occupied while waiting for my target birds to wake up. Then at 6:06, 21 minutes after sunset, I heard the twittering flight call of a Woodcock in the distance (statebird #4). The rule of thumb is accurate once again. As I drove out I passed through more good habitat along Fitchett’s Road and heard 2 birds “peenting”, and saw 3 others in the waning light. As I left the refuge I got this shot of the moon rising over one of the Woodcock’s fields.
VA was my 29th eastern state with Woodcocks, but I still need them in a number of states mostly near the western edge of their range.
That gave me 4 of 7 targets on the day – not great, but I’ll take it.
February 17 – Seawatch and Drive Home
My only planned stop of the day was an extended seawatch at
Little Island Park. The key attraction
here was a long fishing pier from which numerous reports had been posted on
eBird. Unlike some other fishing piers that
open later in the morning (like Jennette’s Pier in Nags Head, NC that opens at
9), the pier at Little Island is not gated so you can access the pier at
dawn. It’s often the case that seabird
movement is best in the early morning, and that was typically the situation at
Little Island with best numbers often from seawatches starting at sunrise. So my plan was to start at sunrise and stay
at least a couple hours before making the long drive home.
I arrived at 6:45 to this spectacular sunrise.
And after pausing to take in the view, bird activity quickly started to pickup around me. Soon the sky was full of Gannets flying south. Many were right overhead and some were calling – I’ve never heard Gannets call except at a breeding colony in Newfoundland. And although there were some diving birds, most were just heading south. The flight continued until 7:05, and over those 20 minutes I estimated 10 birds were passing by every second for an astounding total of 12,000 Gannets! Here’s a typical picture of that amazing flight.
The rest of the time during my seawatch there were hundreds if not thousands in view, but they seemed to be milling about rather than heading south.
But Gannets weren’t the only birds heading south. There was a steady stream of other species
heading south, dominated by Red-throated Loons, Red-breasted Mergansers,
Cormorants, and Black Scoters. At one
point I spotted a pair of birds flying together – the lead bird was obviously a
Red-throated Loon. But the second bird
was about a third smaller, and although roughly the same shape it had a more
arched body, a faster fluttering wingbeat, and white patches in the secondaries
– I had a Red-necked Grebe (statebird #5).
I was able to watch this pair for 10-15 seconds as they passed by to the
south. VA was the 5th state where I’ve
seen this species as a rarity south of its normal wintering range.
Then there was the alcid show. Although most of the seabirds were flying southbound, I started to notice singles or pairs of birds heading north. These northbound birds invariably turned out to be Razorbills, some flying quite close to shore. And then while watching one Razorbill heading north, a much smaller alcid passed through my scope field heading south. I had a Dovekie, looking like a football with no extended head and neck, and a whirr of wings (statebird #6). Soon thereafter a second Dovekie passed by – luckily these birds were rather close providing good extended scope views. I had 2 other likely Dovekies that flew by farther out. Although the range maps show Dovekie wintering as far south as North Carolina, they aren’t often seen from shore.
After about 2 hours the activity had slowed and I still needed to make the long drive home. So I decided to call it quits with these very rough estimates –
Black Scoter – 100
Red-breasted Merganser – 135
Red-necked Grebe - 1
Dovekie – 2
Razorbill – 31 (exact count)
Red-throated Loon – 175
Gannet – 12,000
Double-crested Cormorant – 110
Truly a spectacular seawatch!
But the trip wasn’t over quite yet. My route home included a couple hours of
driving time through agricultural fields in southeastern VA – more Turkey
habitat. But I wasn’t too hopeful given
my track record. And as I neared the NC
line I had pretty much given up. But
this time the “birding gods” were looking out for me. Just 20 minutes before crossing back into NC,
while driving on US 58 in Brodnax, I spotted a group of 8 Turkeys in an adjacent
field. And 10 minutes later I spotted
another small flock (statebird #7). Until
then my daily VA Needs Alerts would include a dozen or more Turkey sightings
scattered across the state – probably the most common species I still needed in
VA. Thankfully my Needs Alerts will no
longer be dominated by Turkey sightings.
I only need Turkey in 6 more states plus DC.
A perfect ending to an excellent trip! With 7 new birds that brings my VA list to 267. The link to the eBird Trip report for this VA portion of my coastal trip is inserted below –
https://ebird.org/tripreport/39066
Can’t wait to go back to the VA coast again, likely next
winter. Or earlier if there are some
nice rarities to chase.
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