Dear Friend of the Loons,
Thank you for
your support of our efforts in the World Series of Birding this year. All funds collected will go to The Nature
Conservancy’s Migratory Bird Program. We
thank you for helping to support this fine organization. If you have not yet sent in your donation,
please write your check to “The Nature Conservancy”, write “NPAWSB2010” in the
memo section and mail the check to The Nature Conservancy, 15
East Ridge Avenue, Suite 100, Conshohocken,
PA 19428. Our final count of 187 birds put us in ninth place overall and represents a solid
showing in the event. This result is a
product of countless hours scouting and planning. I hope you enjoy the following account of our
day.
We began our “day” in the Great Swamp National
Wildlife Refuge. We got to the marsh
around 10:30 to scout around a bit
and visit with other teams. Due to some
new restrictions on vehicular access, the swamp was less crowded this year. At 12:00am
sharp we headed toward the edge of the woods with a couple of other teams. The DVOC team whistled Screech Owl imitations
until an actual Screech Owl responded a minute later. After this we gave our other scouted birds
quite a while to sound off. Many did,
but several chose to stay silent. By the
time we left Great Swamp
around 1:45, we had checked off
Screech Owl, Barred Owl, Grey-cheeked Thrush, Sora, Solitary Sandpiper, Virginia
Rail, Black-billed Cuckoo and a very vocal Yellow-breasted Chat.
We drove straight from Great
Swamp to a spot called Lewisburg
Marsh in the northwestern portion of the state.
Here we heard Common Moorhen and Pied-billed Grebe. Then it was off to Stokes
State Forest
where we got out of the car where a Saw-whet Owl gave one toot that only two of
us heard. After much whistling and
waiting we moved on to the Unionville grasslands. Our first stop was where Long-eared Owl had
been scouted. While we were waiting for
the bird, another team pulled up and parked along the side of the road about 50
yards away. They imitated a Long-eared Owl
and the bird responded from the woods right in front of us with some bill
clapping. The other team clearly didn’t
hear the bird, but we did and we moved on.
From here we quickly birded the area and by 5:45 we were heading out of the grasslands having checked
off Vesper Sparrow, Ring-necked Pheasant, Grasshopper Sparrow, Savannah
Sparrow, American Kestrel, and several others.
After the grasslands, we raced through High Point
State Park and Stokes State Forest picking up many difficult to find species
such as Canada Warbler, Hooded Merganser, Red-breasted Nuthatch, Cliff Swallow
and 4 additional birds of prey that we had scouted on nest. While we were finding success with many species,
we also missed a number of birds such as Purple Finch, Ruffed Grouse and Winter
Wren which were well-scouted, but chose not to sing or show for us on big
day. We ended up crossing over I-80 at 10:50 with 122 birds checked off.
This year we chose a new, eastern, route that took
us to South Amboy where we had a quick stop to pick up Bonaparte’s and Little
Gull along with every other common gull we needed. From here, it was a straight run to Forsythe
National Wildlife Refuge (Brig as it’s known by most birders). Just prior to heading into the refuge itself
we stopped for gas at a station where we had scouted a Downy Woodpecker coming
to a suet feeder last year. Since we
needed gas anyhow, we took a shot at it and had the bird sitting on the suet
feeder as we pulled up to the pump. The
Blackpoll warbler singing from a nearby tree was a nice bonus as well. Not too shabby for a gas stop. We then made the rounds at Brig and picked up
some fine birds such as Caspian Tern, Gull-billed Tern, Peregrine Falcon,
Tricolored Heron, and White-rumped Sandpiper.
While these were nice finds, most of our scouted ducks chose not to show
themselves and we were unable to conjure up the resident Bob-white. By 3:30
we were out of Brig and headed south.
Our first stop after Brig was for a scouted
Red-headed Woodpecker. Alas, the bird
did not show and the clock continued ticking.
Yellow-crowned Night-heron was where we expected, but all ducks were
absent from Townsends Inlet. Instead, we
picked up Purple Sandpiper, Great Cormorant and Ruddy Turnstone. Nummy’s Island failed
to produce Red Knot, but did give us a drive-by look at a Little Blue Heron. Our stop at Cove Pool managed to provide us
with a Blue-winged Teal, but was devoid of any of the Pectoral Sandpipers found
during scouting. Piping Plover was
sitting pretty inside its exclosure on the beach by the bunker and we picked up
a bonus Lesser Yellow-legs en route. A
look at the ocean produced Northern Gannet and Rudy Duck and then we moved on
to try to pick up some southern breeders.
Higbee beach was a success with both Blue Grosbeak
and White-eyed Vireo singing as soon as we walked it. We ended the daylight hours at Belleplain
with the hopes of picking up a few more land-birds. We arrived later than we wished, but still
managed to coax a Yellow-billed Cuckoo into calling. At nightfall we were surrounded by
Whip-Poor-Wills singing loudly. From
Belleplain we headed over toward Bivalve to a scouted Great Horned Owl. While getting the owl, we also picked up a Least
Bittern and Chuck-Wills-Widow. Always
pushing for more birds, we headed back to a spot for Saltmarsh Sparrow and were
able to coax one into chipping for us. This
turned out to be our final bird for the day and we headed into the finish line
tired, but happy to have had another good running of the Loons.
We are very grateful to the many individuals who
shared information, assistance and encouragement, but the biggest thanks go to
you folks reading this note. Thank you
so much for your support. You are
helping a wonderful organization do important work that will help preserve vital
habitat for many species. See you next
year for more Loonacy!
Sincerely,
Bill Reaume (Captain of the Four
Loons)
