Waterbird Research

The Coastal Virginia Wildlife Observatory’s Waterbirds Team was formalized in 2015 to maintain the continuity of shorebird and colonial nesting seabird monitoring studies Ruth Beck conducted for decades on Grandview Beach Preserve (Grandview) in Hampton, the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel (HRBT), and Craney Island Dredged Materials Management Area (CIDMMA) in Portsmouth prior to her untimely passing in May of that year.

All Waterbirds Team monitoring and survey efforts are performed under the auspices of and in collaboration with the Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources (VDWR), and, in the case of CIDMMA, the Norfolk District Office of the United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE).

CIDMMA data are entered into the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology’s eBird database. Annual reports of findings are provided to the CIDMMA/USACE staff as supportive information for the facility’s Long-Term Bird Management Plan (Beck, 2012). Data for nesting Least Terns and American Oystercatchers are filed with the VDWR. 

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) operates a river dredge site in Portsmouth that attracts thousands of waterbirds to its impoundments. The four-square-mile site is closed to the public, but for many years, waterbird surveys have been conducted there to help the Corps and its contractors avoid sensitive bird nesting areas.

The fieldwork at Craney Island Dredged Materials Management Area (CIDMMA) has evolved into weekly surveys throughout the year of all bird species found on or immediately adjacent to this highly dynamic 2500-acre facility. The Team works closely with USACE staff from April 1 through August 1 to track the locations and reproductive success of nesting Least Terns, American Oystercatchers, and Black-necked Stilts. CIDMMA is a Restricted Access facility, therefore not open to the public.

Motus Wildlife Tracking System 

Team members established a Motus wildlife tracking system on CIDMMA in 2018 through partial funding provided by a conservation grant from the Virginia Society of Ornithology. To date the station has logged two “hits,” a red bat and Sora.

AudioMoth Sound Recording Stations 

Following the documentation of a singing Eastern Black Rail on CIDMMA in 2017, the Team installed three AudioMoth sound recording stations in 2021 to assess the status of that species there. This shy, seldom-detected marsh bird is listed as Threatened under the Endangered Species Act. No Black Rail detections were recorded by the AudioMoth devices in 2021. However, analysis of the 2022 recordings has found at least 3 soundbites, one each in May, June, and July that suggested Eastern Black Rail presence.

2022 Report and Updates

Work on the Harwoods Mill dam continued, necessitating low water levels. Most boxes previously located in the water were now on dry land and couldn’t be checked from the kayak. Fortunately, the predator guards continued to keep out the snakes. An Eastern Screech-Owl took up roosting in one box but left in time for the ducks to use the box for nesting. 

Five of the seven boxes produced young this year, but three boxes had second clutches. Total Wood Duck egg production was 224 with 186 ducklings fledged. Nesting again began in early March, and one box was still active in July.

Thanks to Newport News Parks and Recreation for their continued support of this project.

The Team continues to visit Grandview as part of the VDWR’s annual Least Tern and

American Oystercatcher surveys. Its monitoring of the colonial nesting seabirds on the HRBT’s

south “island’ ended after the 2018 breeding season, the consequence of that work being

contracted to the Virginia Tech Department of Fish and Wildlife Conservation in 2019 in

preparation for the expansion of the tunnel complex and associated facilities.

The Team continues to visit Grandview as part of the VDWR’s annual Least Tern and

American Oystercatcher surveys. Its monitoring of the colonial nesting seabirds on the HRBT’s

south “island’ ended after the 2018 breeding season, the consequence of that work being

contracted to the Virginia Tech Department of Fish and Wildlife Conservation in 2019 in

preparation for the expansion of the tunnel complex and associated facilities.

Summary prepared by Brian Taber

From CVWO's 2021 Annual Report

In October 2013, the non-profit Coastal Virginia Wildlife Observatory (CVWO) began a 5-year study to document waterbird migration at the lower Chesapeake Bay. Such data is useful in light of issues related to fishing, pollution, development, wind energy and climate change. The Study Coordinators were Brian Taber, President of CVWO and two CVWO Advisors, Bill Williams and Ned Brinkley. 

CVWO hired biologists, with experience in waterbird identification, to conduct the study with the following protocols: 

• count all species of waterbirds, using binoculars and scope
   
• count on a daily basis in the morning from 1 October to 30 November
   
• make additional notes on bird movements, including direction and behavior
   
• enter data into eBird
   
• prepare a season summary
   

The biologists were Steve Kolbe in 2013, who had just conducted the CVWO fall hawkwatch the previous year at Kiptopeke; Eric Beck in 2014; Katie Rittenhouse in 2015, who had just conducted the CVWO fall hawkwatch the previous year at Kiptopeke; Charlie Plimpton in 2016 and Ned Brinkley in 2017. 

The site chosen for the Study was newly-acquired State property, about a mile north of Kiptopeke State Park, at Pickett’s Harbor Natural Area Preserve, at the high cliff overlooking the Chesapeake Bay. The site provided an elevated and wide view of several square miles of Bay. Dot Field of the Virginia Natural Heritage Program secured the necessary permits. Kiptopeke State Park and Eastern Shore of Virginia National Wildlife Refuge both assisted with housing for the staff. 

Protocols were tweaked as the Study progressed, including the challenge, in 2017, of noisy house construction at the site, which caused Brinkley to also survey from two locations in nearby Cape Charles. Other ideas about documenting distance, height of flight and directional movement proved difficult to assess, though noting behavior, such as resting, feeding and migrating were useful. Brown Pelicans and some other species were abundant on a daily basis and effort was made not to duplicate totals. 

In the initial season in 2013, Steve Kolbe recorded 53,390 bird of 126 species, including some landbirds that were moving down the coastline. He pioneered the methods there of constant scanning and finding reference points far out in the water. A Black-legged Kittiwake was a big surprise, as were two Little Gulls and 11 Parasitic Jaegers. Kolbe noted that birds were moving at the end of November so that December coverage would reveal even more. He noted that “the value of this count probably lies not in the sheer numbers of migrants, but rather in the way it describes how the Chesapeake Bay is used by birds that are both passing through and preparing to spend the winter.” 

In 2014, Eric Beck found 30,230 birds of 97 species. Highlights included Great Cormorant, Hudsonian Godwit, Black-headed Gull and Little Gull. Little Gulls are very rarely reported in Virginia, but were found on the first two Baywatch seasons. At the site, Beck also found two dead juvenile sea turtles, a Loggerhead and a Kemp’s Ridley, which were collected by the Virginia Beach Aquarium Team. 

In 2015 Katie Rittenhouse documented 58,700 birds. Highlights included two Cave Swallows and 15 Parasitic Jaegers and 1,069 Laughing Gulls, in a 30-minute period. Rittenhouse lost some days of coverage due to bad weather, as the site has no shelter. Rittenhouse found a stranded Green Sea Turtle, which was reported to the Beach Aquarium and she recorded a Humpbacked Whale on 28 November. She recommended that due to the slow early season that the count might be shifted to later October and through December. She also recommended having another helper to see and record birds, as some days were very busy, causing birds to be missed. 

In 2016, Charlie Plimpton found 43,216 birds of 53 species. He mentioned, as did the other observers, that the bulk of the bird movement on most days was before 9 a.m. and birds often moved on stormy weather. He witnessed a spectacular flight of 1,057 Red-throated Loons on 28 November. Shorebirds, because of their small size and often distant flights, are difficult to document, though Plimpton found Killdeer, Black-bellied Plovers, Willets, Sanderlings, American Oystercatchers, Spotted Sandpipers, Pectoral Sandpipers, Greater Yellowlegs and Ruddy Turnstones. He saw whales on two occasions, though too far away for identification. He also witnessed something that few people in Virginia ever have: an attack by a Northern Goshawk. It forced a juvenile Great Black-backed Gull down to the beach and Plimpton was able to photograph the graphic drama below. 

In 2017 Ned Brinkley conducted the 5th year of the study that he helped to establish and coordinate. He made 128,653 detections of 59 species. The term detections is used to show that observers are not always able to know when duplication occurs, because of back-and-forth movements. He states that “it was often impossible to exclude duplication in the estimates...because of their frequent tendency to fly and forage widely over the Bay, in multiple directions, probably influenced by prey movements, tide cycles, weather conditions and the activities of ship traffic...” He states that “the total count of likely migrants was perhaps closer to 54,342 birds, close to the 5-year average for this project.” He was able to document a remarkable movement of jaegers through the area. His total of 144 Parasitic Jaegers was unprecedented, as were 23 Pomarine Jaegers, a species not recorded annually anywhere in the Bay. One Long-tailed Jaeger was even more exceptional for its late date of 3 November. Area birders speculated that stalled frontal boundaries and low ceilings accounted for the unusual concentration. He was able to document an incredible 4,747 Redheads. New species for the Study included Brown Booby, Pacific Loon and Red Phalarope. Red-throated Loons numbered an astounding 5,765 on 29 November, with a season total of 16,208. He also observed a strong migration of Monarch butterflies along the coast in October and early November. 

In addition to fall surveys, several surveys were conducted in winter and spring in 2014 and 2015. In 2014, daily surveys in winter and spring by a biologist would have been extremely interesting, as there was nearly complete freezing of the Great Lakes, forcing waterbirds southward. Such conditions would further show the importance of the ice free lower Chesapeake Bay to the survival of waterbirds. A lack of housing for staff, however, prevented hiring. Five surveys were conducted in 2014, three by Taber and two by David Matson, from 10 March to 5 May. Highlights included 3,240 Horned Grebes resting together, one of the largest totals ever seen in Virginia as well as a huge Northern Gannet flight of 10,260 on 13 April headed south out of the Bay. In addition, some species were recorded that were not found during the entire previous fall Baywatch season, including Harlequin Duck, Glossy Ibis, Snowy Egret, Lesser Black-backed Gull and Gull-billed Tern. The 2014 winter and spring total of 17,991 birds, with only five surveys compares to the 53,390 birds the previous fall, with two months of surveys, indicating the year-round importance of the Bay to waterbirds. Surveys in 2015 were conducted on 3 February and 17 April and added two new species to the Baywatch Study list, Razorbill and Dovekie. 

The intent of the Study, besides ongoing analysis of data, which could take a long time, was to share this initial summary of the 5-year results with our colleagues: Dot Field of Virginia Natural Heritage Program at Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation; Forrest Gladden at Kiptopeke State Park; Bob Leffel at Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge; Stacey Lowe at Eastern Shore of Virginia National Wildlife Refuge; Ruth Boettcher at Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries; Jill Bieri at The Nature Conservancy; and the American Bird Conservancy. We also shared the report with several CVWO partners. 

We trust that such data will be useful to the conservation efforts of all these great colleagues and organizations. Additional studies throughout the year would surely reveal more surprising results. CVWO is available to provide additional information if requested.