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S.E.Virginia & N.E.North Carolina 5-1-00



My husband and I had a very enjoyable BEAUTIFUL day birding. Our day began in 
Virginia Beach (home) and our first stop was Merchants Millpond, NC. We saw 
10 species of warblers: Parula, Yellow, Yellow Rumped, Black Throated Green, 
Yellow Throated, Pine, Prairie, Prothonatory, Ovenbird and Common 
Yellowthroat. The Prothons and Parulas were practically in our face and 
everywhere ! We saw 4 species of vireo: White Eyed, Blue Headed, Philadelphia 
& Red Eyed. One beautiful Indigo Bunting scooted past us and the Great 
Crested Flycatchers were "meeping" all over the place. Male and female Summer 
Tanagers were numerous. We saw 3 Yellow Billed Cuckoos. Wood Thrush were 
calling in several locations and we ran into a pocket of White Throated 
Sparrows enjoying the warm NC weather. We birded by the canoe launch area, 
along the road and parts of the Coleman Trail. We birded 3 hours and saw 46 
species of birds. From Merchants Millpond we traveled to Northwest River 
Naval Security Activity. We went to the campground area for lunch (about and 
hour) and saw 22 species of birds there. We were able to add another vireo to 
our list: Yellow Throated. We normally see the Summer Tanagers there as well 
but not today. A Hairy Woodpecker was added to the list we had seen at 
merchants Millpond and a White Breasted Nuthatch was interested in my 
"pishing".
As I said the day was beautiful and we just weren't ready to quit 
birding.....so.....we went back to NC to Mackay Island. We saw 39 species of 
birds there in an hour and a half. Snowy Egrets were putting on a show along 
the causeway. We saw the following shorebirds: Willet, Greater Yellowlegs, 
Solitary Sandpiper and the following terns: Forsters, Gull Billed & Caspian. 
It was nice to see our old winter friend the Northern Harrier flying over the 
marsh. We decided not to take the walk down to see the Bald Eagles. There was 
a report in the paper this week that the nesting couple are the proud parents 
of one baby eagle. Ü
We realized our "day count" for birds was growing rather large and decided to 
go to the beach to add a couple more to the list. We went to Dam Neck Navy 
Base (by the campgrounds & on the beach near by) and added a few gulls to the 
list as well as Brown Pelicans and a Royal Tern. Later on at home we added up 
all the birds we had seen on the road as well as in the back yard and 
realized we had seen 92 species of birds in one day. Like I said 
earlier....we had a very enjoyable BEAUTIFUL day of birding !
Good birding to all of you!
Karen & Tom Beatty
Virginia Beach, VA