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Birding News and Features
Central Piedmont IBA Survey Summary
The Central Piedmont Important Bird Area (IBA), Virginia’s 20th IBA, is composed of a patchwork of farmlands, fallow fields and forests that provide a home for many threatened bird species. Some key species that call this IBA home include the Prairie Warbler, Kentucky Warbler, Louisiana Waterthrush, Wood Thrush and Grasshopper Sparrow, all B1 species of Continental Conservation Concern. The IBA also hosts significant numbers of at least 4 out of the 10 species recently identified by the National Audubon Society as the Top 10 Common Birds in Decline: Northern Bobwhite (#1), Eastern Meadowlark (#6), Field Sparrow (#9), and Grasshopper Sparrow (#10). The Northern Bobwhite has also been classified as an A1 species of Global Conservation Concern.
CVWO Adopts Lower Delmarva IBA
Coastal Virginia Wildlife Observatory has adopted the Lower Delmarva Important Bird Area (see article below on adopting IBAs in Virginia). The Observatory is already very active on the lower Eastern Shore, providing free daily public education to visitors during the August-November bird migration period, at its songbird banding, hawk banding and hawkwatch research stations at Kiptopeke State Park. The lower Delmarva is a bird concentration area of global significance. The Observatory also collaborates with the State Park, the Eastern Shore of Virginia National Wildlife Refuge and other organizations about habitat management and conservation issues.
2009 Virginia Plover Summary
Submitted by:
Carissa Smith1, Alex Wilke2 and Ruth Boettcher3
1Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries
Wildlife Diversity Division
27270 Baylys Neck Road
Accomac, VA 23301
Carissa.Smith@dgif.virginia.gov
2The Nature Conservancy
Virginia Coast Reserve
PO Box 158
Nassawadox, Virginia 23413
awilke@tnc.org
3Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries
Wildlife Diversity Division
PO Box 476
Painter, VA 23420
Ruth.Boettcher@dgif.virginia.gov
Piping Plover and Wilson’s Plover Population Estimates and Distribution
The 24th Annual Virginia Plover Survey (VPS) was conducted from June 1 - June 9 to obtain statewide breeding population estimates for the federally threatened Piping Plover (Charadrius melodus) and the state endangered Wilson’s Plover (Charadrius wilsonia). VPS participants examined all suitable nesting habitats in coastal Virginia to locate breeding pairs of Piping Plovers and Wilson’s Plovers. Seventeen ocean-facing sites were included in the survey covering an estimated 194 km of Virginia coastline along with two inshore sites on the western shore of the Chesapeake Bay. A third inshore site, Plum Tree Island National Wildlife Refuge was not surveyed this year due to logistical difficulties. During the 2009 survey a total of 182 Piping Plover breeding pairs and 9 unpaired single adults (single adults that did not appear to be defending a territory, mate, nest or brood) were observed (Table 1).
Volunteer Birders Needed!
This coming May, the Virginia Important Bird Areas (IBA) Program will be conducting survey efforts within the Central Piedmont Important Bird Area, Virginia’s 20th IBA!
Please support our efforts by taking time to bird the Virginia Piedmont during our four day survey period from Friday, May 14th through Tuesday, May 18th, 2010. Please review the information below for more details and thank you in advance for your help!
