April 2017

The SISKIN
Newsletter of the Northern Virginia Bird Club
Vol. 62, No. 2
April 2017
Inside

Calendar of NVBC field trips April 12 – June 24, 2017
Upcoming Weekend Trips – Chincoteague and Highland County
Report and photos from NVBC 2017 winter weekend trips
Val Kitchens Memorial Youth Birding Scholarship awardee for 2017

Black-backed Oriole photograph
Seneca, Maryland/Virginia Christmas Bird Count
To see the newsletter photographs in color, go to www.nvabc.org and click on the Siskin icon.

NVBC GENERAL MEETING—WEDNESDAY, APRIL 19, 8 PM
A Million Penguins: Watching Penguins in the Antarctic
Speaker: William Young
In 2016, Bill Young took a cruise from southern Argentina to the Antarctic and saw an estimated one million penguins from seven species. His presentation will focus on each of the species, with special emphasis on their biology and behavior and on the environmental issues affecting them. Penguins are found as far north as the Galapagos Islands, but to see large numbers of them, you need to travel to more southerly waters.
Bill is a writer from Arlington and has traveled to all seven continents to observe birds and wildlife. In 2014, his book The Fascination of Birds: From the Albatross to the Yellowthroat was published by Dover Publications. The book contains 99 essays which look at the relationship between birds and a broad range of subjects, including biology, ecology, literature, music, history, linguistics, politics, sports, entertainment, and other areas. His natural history videos on his YouTube channel have had tens of thousands of views. Last year, he was honored by having a species of snail-killing fly named after him — Dictya youngi.
Early bird refreshments start at 7:30 pm. Any contributions of food or beverage will be most gratefully received. There will be a drawing for door prizes. Northern Virginia Bird Club pins will be available for members who would like to buy them ($5 each).
MEETING PLACE: St. Andrews Episcopal Church, 4000 Lorcom Lane, Arlington, 22207.

Election of NVBC Officers for 2017-2019
to be held at April 19, 2017 General Meeting
Officers and directors will be elected to serve two-year terms beginning July 1, 2017. The following people have agreed to be candidates:
President: Larry Meade
Vice President, Programs: David Farner
Vice President, Field Activities: Elton Morel
Secretary: Diane Marton
Treasurer: Jean Tatalias
Directors: Catherine Kubo, Tom Nardone, Ghazali Raheem, Phil Silas, Joanna Taylor
Nominations also will be accepted from the floor.

Presidential Peentings
As birders, it’s in our nature to be interested and care about the natural world. Obviously, birders tend to focus mostly on birds when out in the field. However, there is much more to explore out there. Many birders have been expanding their knowledge beyond the avian world as they explore other intriguing aspects of nature. Some areas of interest might include wildflowers, trees, herpetology, insects, geology, and stream monitoring.
Once a birder always a birder, though. I heard about a recent geology field trip that had several birders included among its participants. The geology instructor became a little bit irked at the birders for continuously pointing out birds when, from his point of view, they should have been more focused on the rocks that they were finding. In my opinion, however, the most natural transition for birders to a new area of interest is probably to butterflies. Butterflies are widespread and usually not too difficult to identify. Plus, they fly! The field guides for butterflies are often arranged like bird field guides, which also makes it easier for birders to adapt. There are several butterfly counts this summer in our area. They are set up in a similar way to Christmas Bird Counts and are also important examples of citizen science. I hope you can get out and see some exciting birds this spring and summer, but also pay attention and learn about some of the other wonders of nature that you encounter.
—Larry Meade

Upcoming Weekend Trips
Spring Chincoteague Weekend
The Chincoteague Spring Weekend club trip is scheduled for May 19-21 (Friday-Sunday). The trip is limited to 28 people and NVBC membership is required. Due to strong demand since the announcement in February’s The Siskin, this trip is fully subscribed. You can be put on a waiting list by contacting Elton Morel at 703-553-4860 or eltonlmorel@verizon.net.
Mid-May is an excellent time to visit the Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge (NWR). Spring shorebird migration is in full swing with most birds in breeding plumage. Most trips tally about 100 species including such Eastern Shore specialties as Black-necked Stilts, American Oystercatchers, Piping Plovers, Whimbrels, Marbled Godwits, Little Blue and Tricolored Herons, Cattle Egrets, Glossy Ibis, Least, Royal and Common Terns, Black Skimmers, Clapper Rails, Seaside Sparrows, Chuck-will’s-widows, Brown-headed Nuthatches and Boat-tailed Grackles.
Plans for the weekend include birding the Chincoteague NWR on Friday afternoon starting at 3:15 pm (optional) or on Saturday starting at 7:30 am. Activities on Saturday morning include birding along Beach Road, Swan Cove and Tom’s Cove and a walk along the Woodland Trail looking for land bird migrants. We will also visit the Queens Sound Flats, the Chincoteague City mudflats and Mariner’s Point. On Sunday morning, we will board a boat and travel along Chincoteague Island looking for shorebirds along the mudflats and sparrows along the marsh edges. The cost of the boat trip will be about $35 per person. The trip concludes at noon on Sunday.
—Elton Morel
Highland County Weekend
Our summer trip to Highland County in the mountains of western Virginia, led by Marv Rubin, is scheduled for the weekend of June 2-4 (Friday-Sunday). The trip limit is 16 people. Headquarters will be at the Highland Inn in Monterey. We will start the trip at 3:15 pm on Friday afternoon, at the Highland Inn, with a drive around the Blue Grass Valley to look for Bobolinks and Vesper Sparrows. On Saturday morning, we will go to Paddy’s Knob to look for Mourning Warblers and Least Flycatchers. On Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning, we will bird other areas of the county. We will arrange a group dinner at the Highland Inn’s dining room on both evenings. The trip will end in Monterey at about noon on Sunday.
Call or email (preferred) Marv Rubin at 703-915-7545 or mbrubin@verizon.net to sign up and get information to make your reservations. NVBC membership is required for this trip.
—Mary Rubin

The Val Kitchens Memorial Scholarship Awardee for 2017: Max Nootbaar
The Board is proud to announce the latest recipient of the Val Kitchens Memorial Scholarship. Max plans to use the scholarship to help defray costs to attend the Hog Island Audubon Camp. He was one of the founding members of the Blue Ridge Young Birders Club. His interest began in the sixth grade when he was assigned to keep a bird journal and write a report on his favorite bird. His interest deepened and he hopes that lessons and skills learned at the camp will assist him in achieving his dream of becoming a conservationist or field researcher.

Chincoteague Winter Trip
The Northern Virginia Bird Club visited the Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) and the Chesapeake Bay Bridge and Tunnel (CBBT) Complex on the weekend of February 3 to 5. The trip was led by Marc Ribaudo and me. We collectively tallied 109 species for the trip. Our Friday afternoon was highlighted by the presence of a male Eurasian Wigeon in Swan Cove. It took us awhile to find the bird in the east end of Swan Cove, but then it took flight towards the west end of the cove. A quick drive west along Beach Road and another search for the bird through all the dabbling ducks eventually paid off despite the failing light at sunset.
Saturday greeted us with bitter cold and wind. We started first at the north parking lot at the beach noting a flock of huddled, sleeping mass of Snow Geese on east end of Swan Cove. Recent storms had washed out the southern parking lot, so we started to trudge south to the mudflats along Tom’s Cove. The howling wind coupled with the low tide pushed the water so far out that most of the birds were quite distant. Nevertheless, we were rewarded with a spectacular flyover of the same Snow Goose flock as they got up and flew right over our heads. In the late morning, we all drove over to Marv Rubin’s house for a feeder watch. We were delighted to get out of the wind and were entertained by all three species of nuthatches, a Brown Creeper, several Pine Warblers and Hooded Mergansers along the creek. Our afternoon activities unfolded on the west side of Chincoteague Island. We found Common Goldeneyes while scoping off of Donald J. Leonard Park, a big flock of Brants and a flyover Peregrine Falcon at Mariner’s Point, American Oystercatchers and another Common Goldeneye at the Queen Sound Flats boat launch, a quick look at a Tricolored Heron flushed along South Main Street, and finally both species of yellowlegs amongst tens of Black-bellied Plovers and hundreds of Dunlin at the Chincoteague City mudflats.
After a quick stop at Kiptopeke State Park, we began Sunday’s escorted visit of the CBBT. At Island #4, we found both Surf and Black Scoters, Long-tailed Ducks, Great Cormorants, and lots of Northern Gannets. Our highlight though was a Razorbill, but this bird was tough to see as we were looking straight into the sun. A distant flyby of a small flock of Razorbills helped but still wasn’t satisfying. We also spotted a female Common Eider, but we lost sight of the bird and not everyone got to see it. On Island #3, our luck changed when we spotted a male and female Common Eider that gave us a good showing. We also found our first Purple Sandpipers. But the best was saved for Island #1—a Razorbill was diving just off the rocks. It was so close, we could see the trail of air bubbles rising to the surface as it swam under water.
—Elton Morel

Highland County Winter Trip
Members of the Northern Virginia Bird Club faced snow showers, strong winds, and some sunny moments while seeing a total of 65 species during the winter trip to Highland County. On Friday afternoon, March 3, Allan Larner, a local birder, led the group to several spots in the Staunton area. Despite strong winds, we tallied over 40 species. We enjoyed the bird transformation id challenge: as two birds went from Common Ravens to Golden Eagles and finally to Bald Eagles. At a local waste station, we saw a Common Raven landing and sitting on its nest. Highlights that day included Wood Ducks, Gadwalls, Northern Shovelers, Green-winged Teals, a Wilson’s Snipe, Tree Swallows, Bald Eagles, and over a dozen American Kestrels.
On Saturday morning, we found a Ruby-crowned Kinglet and a few Yellow-rumped Warblers at Bells Lane in Staunton. A Ross’s Goose was seen flying overhead in a group of geese. In Highland County, we found a single first year Golden Eagle. At the local trout farm we saw a few Common Mergansers. A few intrepid birders went out to the local cemetery that evening to listen for owls and heard a Great-horned Owl. On Sunday morning, the group found Brown Creeper, Fox Sparrow and a single Purple Finch along Rte 631. At a Bath County pond, there was a nice variety of ducks, including Wood Duck, Gadwall, Mallard, American Wigeon, and Common and Hooded Merganser. At the bridge in Bolar, we found several Rusty Blackbirds foraging in the water.
—Gerco Hoogeweg

Seneca, Maryland/Virginia Christmas Bird Count, December 18, 2016
Count day began unusually warm (60’s in the morning) with intermittent light rain, then turned blustery and colder in the afternoon (low 40’s). On this 58th Seneca CBC, our 123 intrepid counters found 100 species on count day, well ahead of the last two years and well above the 96 average for the previous 10 years. Five additional species were found during “count week” (the period starting 3 days before and ending 3 days after the count day) for a grand total of 105 species, our highest since 2000. Each year, the count is done in a 15-mile diameter count circle, centered at Violette’s Lock on the C&O Canal, and includes areas of Montgomery, Fairfax, and Loudoun counties. The count circle is divided into 16 sectors (5 in Virginia Sectors 12-16 comprising about 40% of the circle, and 11 in Maryland – Sectors 1-11 covering the other 60%).
This year’s 123 is the highest number of participants since 1995. I was pleased to have many new folks join our veteran counters in both the Virginia and Maryland sectors. I hope everyone will join us again for the 2017 count on Sunday, December 17. In spite of the warm fall and early winter we had good waterfowl diversity and many with higher numbers than usual. We had most of the expected winter visitors (except Pine Siskin). The fall weather may have helped give us some unusual species. Most notable are 3 species, Eurasian Wigeon, Le Conte’s Sparrow (found at the edge of the Trump golf course in Loudoun County), and Blue Grosbeak, which, if accepted, will be the first ever for our count. In addition, counters found an Osprey (5th ever), 2 Sandhill Cranes (7th ever), a Spotted Sandpiper (on Selden Island in Virginia, the 5th ever), and a Baltimore Oriole (3rd ever). More regular in recent years, but still unusual, are Red-breasted Merganser, Horned Grebe, Double-crested Cormorant, and Peregrine Falcon.
A few other notable results include a new high with 38 Wild Turkey, highest count for Canada Goose since 2002, and highest count for Savannah Sparrow since 1983. On the other end of the spectrum are the low counts: American Black Duck (3rd lowest count ever), Northern Flicker (lowest since 1977), Eastern Bluebird (lowest since 2003), Hermit Thrush (lowest since 1973), Yellow-rumped Warbler (lowest since 1977), no Chipping Sparrow (lowest since 2003), White-throated Sparrow (lowest since 1969), and Swamp Sparrow (lowest since 1969). On a final positive note, we added an Eared Grebe during count week, another species new to the Seneca CBC.
—Jim Nelson, Compiler

CLUB CONTACTS & NOTICES
President: Larry Meade, 703-206-9030
Vice President, Programs: David Farner, 443-643-6141
Vice President, Field Activities: Elton Morel, 703-553-4860
Secretary: Diane Marton, 703-527-7360
Treasurer: Jean Tatalias, 703-281-6099
Membership: Elizabeth Fenton, 703-533-0851
Next Board Meeting: Thursday, June 1, 2017, 7:30 pm, at Diane Marton’s home.
Deadline for next issue of The Siskin: July 1, 2017. Send items to siskineditor@verizon.net.
Birder Discount: 10% discount for NVBC members at Birdwatchers Seed and Supply Company (Vienna). Mention the club at checkout.