The Atlantic Flyway

The Atlantic flyway is known as a migration path for dozens of species of ducks, geese, waterfowl and shorebirds. The following list includes some of the more common waterfowl found along the flyway:

Mallard Duck
Black Duck
Green-winged Teal
American Widgeon
Gadwall
Pintail
Greater Scaup
Redhead
Ring-necked Duck
Ruddy Duck
Bufflehead
Lesser Scaup
Shoveler
Lesser Snow Goose
Common Goldeneye
Common Merganser
Hooded Merganser
Red-breasted merganser
Old Squaw
Black Scoter
White-winged Scoter
Surf Scoter
Tundra Swan
Canada Goose
Greater Snow Goose
Atlantic Brant

Virginia is among the premier bird watching spots in the mid-Atlantic region of the USA. Virginia has a wide variety of environments and is visited by many species of birds.

Song birds

Virginia is home to large numbers of song birds. Along the coast, marshes, wildflowers, fields and areas of brush provide ideal nesting and feeding habitat. Other songbirds inhabit the tall pine forests there. Warblers, nut hatches, sparrows, red wing blackbirds and others nest near the Chesapeake Bay and Atlantic coast in the summer, while cardinals, jays, woodpeckers and finches reside there during the winter months.

Shore Birds

Herons, egrets, ibises, oyster crackers, march hens and other shorebirds are frequently spotted along the marshes in places like Chincoteague, Assateague and the other barrier islands. On the beaches, dozens of species of sandpipers, plovers, gulls and terns feed, nest and raise chicks.

Birds of Prey

A number of birds of prey visit Virginia. Ospreys arrive in the spring to raise young and feed on the abundant fish stocks. As seasons change, some ospreys migrate south while other birds of prey arrive. American eagles, red tailed hawks and other large hunters are present in the fall thru spring. Other hawks such as sparrow hawks may be found year round.

Waterfowl

Ducks, geese, brant and swans all make stops in Virginia. In the refuge, geese and swans take up residence year round. Other full time residents include black ducks, wood ducks and mallards which raise their young on the marshes of Chincoteague Island, Wallops Island and much of the Chesapeake. As autumn arrives, ducks and geese migrate into the refuges and surrounding areas of Virginia. Shoveler ducks, pintails, mallards, widgeons, teal, rudy ducks, canvasbacks, redheads, ring necked ducks, bluebills, and others fly in. Mergansers, buffleheads, goldeneyes and other diving ducks show up in the bay waters as cold weather sets in. Off the coast, rafts of sea ducks and small groups of oldsquaw ducks forage along the shoals over the winter.

Pelagic Birds

The waters off the coast are visited by up to 30 species of pelagic birds including albatrosses, petrels, shearwaters, storm-petrels, phalaropes, skuas, jaegers, gannets, gulls, terns and alcids. These birds migrate along the offshore waters far from land. Many pass off the coast and never see Virginia's beaches.

Each winter, pilots and biologists from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Maryland Department of Natural Resources (DNR) count ducks, geese and swans along Maryland's Chesapeake Bay shoreline and Atlantic coast as part of the Midwinter Waterfowl Survey.

2009

In January of 2009, the survey teams observed a total of 836,900 waterfowl, similar to the number of waterfowl observed in January 2008.

"When pooled with results from other states, the Midwinter Waterfowl Survey provides a long-term measure of the distribution and population size of most waterfowl species wintering in the Atlantic Flyway," said Larry Hindman, DNR Waterfowl Project Leader. "More typical winter weather led to higher numbers recorded for a few species this year."

There was a notable increase in number of Canada geese counted by the survey crews.

The higher winter Canada goose count (498,200), was due to a combination of good gosling production from Northern Quebec nesting areas, snow cover and cold temperatures north of Maryland that pushed geese south to the Chesapeake in search of open water and winter foods.

Canada goose estimates reflect a mix of resident and migrant goose stocks, so these survey estimates are not used to set hunting regulations. Hunting regulations change with the population status of Atlantic and Resident populations of Canada geese. These numbers are tracked using breeding population and productivity surveys that are conducted each spring.

The number of mallards counted in this year's survey (58,300) was similar to 2008 (55,500). Black duck numbers (24,900) also remained unchanged from last winter when 23,000 were counted. Overall, diving ducks numbers were similar to last winter with one exception: scaup numbers were significantly lower (51,600) compared to the 150,000 that were observed on the 2008 survey.

2009's drop in scaup numbers in the Maryland portion of the Bay may be related to environmental factors influencing migration, but the continental population of lesser scaup has been experiencing a significant long-term decline.

The precise reasons for the decline are unknown; factors under investigation include reduced food resources, declining water quality, contaminants on spring migration stopovers and degradation of breeding habitat in the boreal forest. Climate change may also be negatively influencing food resources on boreal forest and coastal habitats.

The Midwinter Waterfowl Survey has been conducted annually throughout the United States since the early 1950s. The survey provides information on long-term trends in waterfowl populations and is the only source of population estimates for important species such as Atlantic brant and tundra swans. The survey also provides supplementary information on other waterfowl species for which annual breeding population and harvest information is available.

The Maryland Midwinter Waterfowl Survey numbers from 2005 to 2009 are listed online here:

http://www.dnr.state.md.us/dnrnews/pressrelease2009/030909a.html

2008

During January of 2008, biologists observed a total of 821,500 waterfowl, which represents a substantial increase from counts during the mild winters of 2006 and 2007.

"When pooled with results from other states, the Midwinter Waterfowl Survey provides a long-term measure of the distribution and population size of waterfowl species wintering in the Atlantic Flyway," said Paul Peditto, Director of DNR's Wildlife and Heritage Service. "More typical winter weather lead to higher numbers recorded for several species this year."

source: MD-DNR press releases

Bird watchers, photographers and nature lovers pour into Virginia during National Waterfowl Week at Chincoteague Wildlife Refuge. The annual event is extremely popular among birders and travelers to Chincoteague and Assateague Islands. The star attraction are the snow geese, which arrive by the thousands just in time for the event.

The islands are popular summer vacation spots, but are year round attractions for bird watchers and nature lovers. Chincoteague Wildlife Refuge, Assateague National Seashore and Chincoteague Island are located within a few hours of Baltimore Maryland, Washington DC, and Hampton Roads Virginia.

The annual event is extremely popular among birders and travelers to the area. The star attractions are the snow geese, which arrive by the thousands just in time for the event.

Horseshoe crabs play a vital ecological role in the migration of shorebirds along the entire Atlantic seaboard. The crabs lay eggs which wash ashore by the millions, providing an important food stop for commercial migrating shore birds.

Additionally, the unique blood of horseshoe crabs is used by the biomedical industry to produce Limulus Amoebocyte Lysate, an important tool in the detection of contaminants in patients, drugs, and other medical supplies.

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission's Horseshoe Crab Management Board has approved Addendum V to the Interstate Fishery Management Plan for Horseshoe Crab.

The Addendum maintains the suite of management measures contained in Addendum IV for an additional year. These measures seek to address the needs of the migratory shorebirds, particularly the red knot, while allowing a limited commercial bait fishery.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Shorebird Technical Committee has indicated that the red knot, one of many shorebird species that feed upon horseshoe crab eggs, remains stable at very low population levels. Red knots have shown no sign of recovery, despite a nearly 70 percent reduction in horseshoe crab landings since 1998.

The North American Bird Phenology Program (BPP) has announced a online data entry system. Through this new online program, volunteers from around the world can register on the website and begin transcribing historical bird arrival records into our online database which were originally scanned in the BPP office.

The BPP is working to understand the scale of global climate change and how it is affecting birds across North America. This is the oldest and longest running bird monitoring program in the country, currently housing six million records dating back to the early 1880's. The program, started in 1880 by Wells W. Cooke, collected bird observations by over 3,000 citizen scientists and came to an end in 1970, until we revived the program during the last year. The records document bird migration arrival and departure dates from around North America; an unparalleled and untapped resource, but one in which volunteer help is needed to modernize.

The BPP relies solely on volunteers to scan images of the migration cards and transcribe them into its database. BPP accepts participants from all ages and backgrounds and volunteers can participate from the comfort of their own home.

Online participants must register online at www.pwrc.usgs.gov/bpp/BecomeAParticipant.cfm. There enthusiasts can learn more about the transcription process and register to become a transcriber. After registering, paticopants will receive a confirmation email which will then take them through a 15 minute training video and back to the website to begin transcription.

Also, volunteers are needed in the Baltimore-Washington area to help in the BPP office with scanning and working with the historic files.

Individuals, families, and small groups are urged to to help discover how spring and fall arrival times of birds have changed since the 1880's.

For more information visit www.pwrc.usgs.gov/bpp/ or call (301) 487-5745.