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Hello fellow birders, I just returned from a long stay at the Chesapeake Bay in VA . I had a wonderful time exploring the avifauna of the area, and I also spent a day at the Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge (highly recommend this!) which is 2 hours south of where I was staying, which was at the small bay-side town of Heathsville. The bay was very calm, and the birds were very active. Not much for shorebirds or pelagic species, since most of the migratory shorebirds are much further north at this point and the bay is too far inland to produce any pelagic sightings. I did get a great deal of land-birds, and was able to add an additional 9 species to my life list! My visit to the Great Dismal Swamp was amazing - this refuge encompasses the southern-most portion of Virginia and the northern-most portion of North Carolina - it's huge! I've never seen a Prothonotary Warbler before, and this refuge is truly loaded with them! And another animal this refuge has plenty of - snakes. I was walking on a boardwalk trail in the swamp and blundered into a basking Eastern Cottonmouth. It was literally as thick as my forearm - I also saw Eastern Kingsnakes and Northern Black Racers. And lastly, no shortage of turtles either - Yellow-bellied Sliders, Mud Turtles, Eastern Box Turtles, and River Cooters.BUT - since this is a birding listserv after all, I wanted to share with all of you the birding highlights from my trip! Enjoy! :-)(**are the lifers for me!) Brown PelicansGreat Blue and Green HeronsGreat EgretsGlossy IbisMute SwansBlack and Turkey VulturesOsprey (everywhere!)plenty of Bald Eagles and Red-shouldered Hawks**Clapper RailRoyal, Least, and Common TernsLaughing Gulls (one of my favorites)**Red-headed Woodpeckersan abundance of Great Crested and Acadian Flycatchers**White-eyed VireosFish CrowsPurple Martinsfamilies of Carolina Chickadees (so adorable!)A LOT of Pine and Prairie Warblers**Yellow-throated Warblers**Prothonotary and Swainson's Warblers (both seen at Great Dismal Swamp)**Worm-eating WarblerHooded WarblersYellow-breasted Chats**Summer Tanagers**Blue GrosbeaksGrasshopper SparrowsOrchard OriolesBoat-tailed Grackles It's great to go birding out of Dodge once in awhile! Sara - Norwich, VT **************************************************************** To post messages, send e-mail to: [log in to unmask] Set your e-mail application to PLAIN TEXT ONLY to post messages. To contact the list owner: [log in to unmask] ---------------------------------------------------------------- Web based archives and subscription management are available at: http://listserv.dartmouth.edu/Archives/uv-birders.html ****************************************************************