Caspian Tern

Hog Island Wildlife Management Area is located on the James River about halfway between Richmond and the Atlantic coast, very near Williamsburg, VA. I suspect that it is the proximity to the coast that makes Hog Island a pretty reliable place to see a few different species of tern, including Caspian Tern. I did a few queries within eBird and determined that Caspian Terns can be found at Hog Island during spring and fall migration, with August and early September being the best times to spot one.

As I mentioned in my previous post, my most recent trip to Hog Island was in early September. On this trip, I did see several Caspian Tern flying over the river. They were near to shore and a few were actively fishing. To fish, they would fly over the water until they spotted a likely victim. Once they had a target, they would hover a bit and then fold their wings in order to dive down into the water and, hopefully, catch some food.

Here are three photos of a Caspian Tern. The first two photos show a Caspian Tern in flight. The last photo shows one in mid-dive, on its way down to the river and hopefully a fish. Some clues that this is a Caspian Tern are the combination of black cap, black legs, and the large orange bill that has a darkish tip.

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher

Way back in September, before the trip to Yellowstone, I took advantage of the Labor Day holiday and visited Hog Island Wildlife Management Area. I was partly interested in seeing what birds might be seen, partly interested in getting a good photograph or two and partly interested in just getting outside and enjoying the peace of a nearly deserted park.

I was not disappointed. There were birds to be seen, a few of which got photographed, and it was a nice, quiet trip to a beautiful park. While I don't have a photograph that I can share to prove that the park was nice, or that it was mostly human free, I do have a picture of a bird. In this case it is a Blue-gray Gnatcatcher. The photos are a tad backlit, but the bird still has enough contrast to be clear and identifiable.

Bugs!

A collection of insectoid critters that I managed to get pictures of today. These are the last pictures from today's trip to Hog Island WMA.

Bambi and friend

Bambi and her friend have rather large ears.

Blackberry

Mmmmmm...Blackberries are yummy. No...I did not pick and eat this, or any other blackberries today.

Giant River Serpent

This is some kind of a giant snake! It is soooo long that its undulating body is poking out of the water in several places. Kind of freaky!

Actually, these are just some type of fish, flailing about in water that is a tad too shallow for them. Still is freaky.

Tricolored Heron

No caveats here. This is a Tricolored Heron, and was the only one of its species I saw today.

Lesser Yellowlegs

First, a caveat. I am not the best at identifying sandpiper like birds, including Yellowlegs. I think I have pictures here of Lesser Yellowlegs, but I am not 100% sure.

The second picture was included so that you could see that the bird closed its eyes as its head went under water.

Eastern Wood-Pewee

Here are a couple of pictures of an Eastern Wood-Pewee. I have just a tinge of doubt that this not a Wood-Pewee, but is instead one of the Empidonax flycatchers. But only a tinge.

I decided that since I can see no eye-ring in these pictures then this is not an Empidonax. There are other field marks that you can use besides the eye-ring, but I am afraid that if I listed them...then you would think that I actually applied that information intelligently. No, I only used the eye-ring.

View of the James River

As I mentioned before, Hog Island sits in a bend of the James River near Williamsburg, Virginia. It is just downstream, and on the opposite bank, from the Jamestown Settlement. These two pictures look out over the James River in the upstream direction. I wish I could say that you could see Jamestown from these photos, but that would be pretty much a lie. Instead of focusing on that, look at the pretty geese!

Great Egrets were everywhere

This year must have been a bumper crop for Great Egrets. They were everywhere. Here are a couple of pictures, each of a different flock of egrets. I wonder if there is a special word for "flock" when describing a gathering of egrets?

Hog Island WMA

Today I visited Hog Island Wildlife Management Area. This is located on the inside of a bend in the James River, near Williamsburg, Virginia. It is usually a good bet for seeing plenty of wildlife. To get to it, you have to drive through a security checkpoint for the Surry Nuclear Power Station, so it is a reasonably safe place to visit as well.

Hog Island is about 1 hour 45 minutes from where I live, so I got an early start (left around 6am), and was there until about 12:30pm. I managed to get several pictures that I think are pretty good (and a ton that were pretty lame), so I think I will make several blog posts tonight instead of dumping a bunch of pictures into a single post.

[edit: replaced old Hog Island link URL with updated URL]