Birding the Delmarva Peninsula area Day IV...

 Prothonotary Warbler

Day 4 arrived and we were up and out on the road very early heading back towards Maryland to bird in Pocomoke State Park. Here, we went in search for target species such as, Yellow-throated and Prothonotary Warblers. We ended up recording about 8 Yellow-throated and 17 Prothonotary Warblers (note, these are conservative estimates). We also had a number of Acadian Flycatchers, a couple of Summer Tanagers, several Louisianna Waterthrushes. Also, one intriguing call that that led to some discussion among the group. Initially, it was thought Louisianna Waterthrush, but hearing it again led to thoughts of the bird being a Swainson’s Warbler.

Royal Terns

From Pocomoke, we headed back to Chincoteague, but decided to stop and scout a potential location for “Black Rail” that we planned on checking later in the evening. The location looked promising and we had some nice birds during our scouting that included Virginia and Clapper Rails.  Also heard and seen were many Seaside Sparrows and Marsh Wrens. After scouting, we headed back to Chincoteague birding along the way; we ended up back at our hotel for a break and a bite to eat and then went out to the refuge to drive the loop. We hit the beach first and had nice looks at Royal and Sandwich Terns, and then we did the refuge loop. We picked up many of the species we had before including a couple of new sightings that included Red Knots and Yellow Breasted Chat that Pat first heard and then spotted. Shai, also had another Chat in that same location and we had a possible third heard by the end of the trail. 

 Sandwich Terns

By then we had heard from Andy and his friend Will, who had arrived in Chincoteague. We met up with Andy and Will and all went to dinner, which was fantastic. There were lots of smiles all round as we all were happy to see Andy. After dinner we went back to our possible Black Rail location; we did not get any Black Rail, but had some of the species we had earlier and were treated to a very nice sundown. Eventually, we headed back to our hotel where we all got together for cocktails and a night of story swapping and late night phone calls. Next up Day 5 - Homeward Bound.

Tags: Delmarva Peninsula, Royal Tern, Sandwich Tern, Prothonotary Warbler