17/04/14 and 19/04/14.Ospreys, Bald Eagles and lots more

• Sue and I had a couple of chances to visit places away from Richmond and on both occasions the birding experience was awesome, adding to what we had already seen.

Thursday 17th April 2014
Urbanna VA

Our American family moor a boat on the river at Urbanna VA and we joined them for one day.  The boat needed some maintenance so we were not able to go to the nearby Chesapeake Bay.  However Urbanna is a lovely place in it's own right so we made the most of our day and what a day it turned out to be.

• Just 50 metres from the boat, on a post in the middle of the river , was a nesting pair of Ospreys and over the next five hours we observed the comings and goings of these birds as they steadily added to their nest.
  
  

  

  Ospreys Mating
  Library picture

  
  
  
  
   Obviously they had only recently arrived.  When we went walkabout it was obvious there were more Ospreys around - in all we estimated a minimum of 6 over a half mile stretch of water!  The day turned out to be an Osprey Feste and there was never a moment when there was not an Osprey to be seen.  The only thing missing was seeing one actually catch a fish, although we did have brilliant views of one holding a large fish in it's talons.  

Osprey Hunting
Library picture

• When my grandson and I went up through the village we came across the peculiar Killdeer with it's habit of feigning injury, in a noisy way, in it's attempt to lure you and any predators away from the nest.  This one was not like that, so it was obviously not yet breeding, and soon flew away.  

Killdeer
Library picture

On the water there were several interesting birds including:-

• Caspian Terns, the world's largest Tern

Caspian Tern
Library picture

• Bufflehead, one of the smallest American ducks

Male Bufflehead
Library picture

Female Bufflehead
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• Common Loon

Common Loon
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• Barn Swallow

Barn Swallow
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• Laughing Gulls in mating plumage, their name coming from their call  which sounds like a high-pitched laugh "ha... ha... ha...".

Laughing Gull
Library picture

and finally 

• an American Kestrel

American Kestrel
Library picture

What a day! The main attraction, lots of Ospreys, were supported by a wonderful cast, showing lots of colour and beauty.

Saturday 19 April 2014
Dutch Gap VA
Richmond Audubon Society Outing

Our real chance to experience American birding came on the final Saturday of our stay when we were fortunate to be allowed to join the Richmond Audubon Society on their outing to Dutch Gap and the surrounding area.  This will go down as one of the best birdwatching trips of all times, alongside the best of Paul James'.  

Listed below are the new birds seen only; there were many more as shown on the listings page.  Almost as soon as we got out of the car at 08.00 we saw a pair of Ospreys actually mating just 50 metres away.  This set the scene for the morning.  There were so many new birds, 20, that it is impossible to rank them so I have just listed them in the order in which we saw them:-

• Common Yellowthroat, by any standards this was a real beauty to start with and we were still in the car park.

Common Yellowthroat
Library picture

• Not long after we saw the Sharp-shinned Hawk, one of Americas smallest hawks

Sharp-shinned Hawk
Library picture

• Just twenty minutes into our trip and we came across the first of at least six Bald Eagles we were to see this morning.  Just like the previous trip with respect to Osprey,  they just kept appearing either on their nests 



Bald Eagle nesting
Library picture 

  or flying around the river.  

Bald Eagle flying
Library picture

Amazing!

• Ten minutes later we saw the Pied-billed Grebe 

Pied-billed Grebe
Library picture

and it just went on and on ........

• American Coot

American Coot
Library picture

• Tree  Swallow

Tree Swallow
Library picture

• Chimney Swift

Chimney Swift
Library picture

• Mourning Dove

Mourning Dove

Library picture

• Blue-gray Gnatcatcher

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
Library picture

• Red-bellied Woodpecker

Red-bellied Woodpecker
Library picture

• Eastern Phoebe

Eastern Phoebe
Library picture

• Northern Rough-winged Swallow

Northern Rough-winged Swallow
Library picture

• White-eyed Vireo

White-eyed Vireo
Library picture

• Yellow-rumped Warbler

Yellow-rumped Warbler
Library picture

• Prothonotary Warbler

Prothonotary Warbler
Library picture

Have you ever seen anything as stunning as this bird?  Paul was especially impressed with this bird.  The conservation project targeted at this species has been successful - thank goodness!

• Brown-headed Cowbird

  

Library picture

• Belted Kingfisher

• Palm Warbler

Library picture

• Yellow-throated Warbler

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• Eastern Meadowlark

Library picture

It's hard to put into words the joy and wonder of this outing with the Audubon Society.  The eight Americans could not have been more welcoming and willing to share their knowledge with us.  Below is a copy of their posting on the local website.

From: Lewis Barnett <blbarnett3@gmail.com>
Date: 19 April 2014 15:18:13 GMT-4
To: Richmond Audubon Society mailing list <va-richmond-general@freelists.org>
Subject: Henricus - Dutch Gap Field Trip

Nine hardy birders braved the threatening weather report this morning to join Richmond Audubon for the monthly walk at Henricus - Dutch Gap. We were delighted to be joined by Bob and Sue Hastings, visiting their son's family in Richmond from the south of England. 

The morning started out overcast with occasional drizzle and temps in the high 40's F. We were greeted at the entrance to the park by a pair of Osprey engaged in the serious business of creating more Osprey, along with a singing Brown Thrasher and Common Yellowthroat, both of which gave good looks. The wintering ducks have all headed north. There were a few American Coots still hanging around, but flyovers by Bald Eagle, Sharp-shinned Hawk, and Great Blue Heron accounted for most of the activity in the marsh.

Things picked up a bit around 11:00 when the overcast thinned a bit. We did manage good looks at Prothonotary Warbler, Palm Warbler, Yellow-throated Warbler, White-eyed Vireo and Eastern Meadowlark for out guests. 

We totaled 46 species for the day, low on migrating songbirds, but all in all, a good day in the field.

Here's a link to the complete checklist on eBird: 

http://ebird.org/ebird/va/view/checklist?subID=S17962254

--
Lewis Barnett
Richmond, VA