THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, January 29, 1995 TAG: 9501270170
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 02 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: Mary Reid Barrow
LENGTH: Medium: 95 lines
The other day a giant white pelican was snoozing along with scores of gulls on the Lake Windsor shoreline at Mount Trashmore.
The big bird with its huge orange-yellow beak seemed out of place perched on a grassy knoll with suburban Windsor Woods homes as the backdrop and with plebeian gulls as its cohorts.
The creature that the Audubon Society Encyclopedia of North American Birds called ``one of the most magnificent water birds'' was like royalty among commoners at Mount Trashmore.
Yet the largest bird to frequent our skies likes it here. Every winter for several years it has been flying far out of its Florida-Gulf states range to spend the winter in Virginia Beach. Carl Kraft, who keeps daily tabs on the comings and goings of birds in the northern half of the city, called the other day to report the pelican's return once again.
``This is the third season in a row,'' Kraft said. ``It just amazes me. It comes in late January and stays through early March.''
Last year the pelican even had a mate along. A second bird may be around this year, but Kraft didn't see one and neither did I. It's the right time of year for pairing up because the pelican's breeding knob, a ridge that rises on a white pelican's bill during breeding season, already is obvious with binoculars.
The presence of the white pelican just goes to show that you can see water birds most any place you go in Virginia Beach. Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge's impoundments where wintering waterfowl feed are no longer open to the public but with a little effort, you can make up for the lack.
Kraft travels around the northern part of the Beach every day looking for birds and in January and February, he's never disappointed, he said. He scouts neighborhood lakes and ponds and scans the creeks and marshes of the Lynnhaven River. This year, he's been seeing a group of 200 to 300 brant in the Lynnhaven in the Church Point area and a couple of weeks ago, he saw an oyster catcher up that way also.
In the meantime I had gotten reports that snow geese were out feeding on the marshes along the Knotts Island Causeway. Those marshes are part of Mackay Island National Wildlife Refuge. Waterfowl impoundments at Mackay Island are not open to the public during waterfowl season either, but snow geese have an affinity for the causeway marshes, too.
Any time now the refuge will burn off the old marsh grasses exposing tasty roots and new shoots and this should bring the geese to the causeway in full force. Still the snow white geese with black wing tips, coloring similar to the white pelican, already have been seen in big numbers in those marshes early most every morning.
When I drove down to Knotts Island in mid-morning last week, I didn't see very many, but like Kraft, I was not disappointed. In addition to a few snow geese, groups of beautiful tundra swan were swimming placidly in the bay on the other side of the road from the marsh. A large group of great white egrets were also gathered in the marsh feeding on little fish swimming in the shallow water.
Much to my surprise, I also saw one of the immature bald eagles that had been frequenting the refuge. It was in a pine tree on a hummock of ground in the marsh not far off the road. I stopped along the road and walked back to take its picture and the big bird flew off.
The eagle reminded me of how careful you have to be when sightseeing along the two-lane stretch of causeway. Seeing a bald eagle is startling enough to send some of us off the narrow road. And you have to remember that folks from Knotts Island, who are used to the birds' comings and goings, drive 55 mph down the road while you are creeping along slowly with your eyes on the marsh.
One impoundment at Mackay Island Refuge is open to the public. It's near the refuge office which is reached by an entrance off route 615 before you reach the causeway. I saw deer on the road in, and I saw swans in the impoundment. Refuge employees say snow geese gather there in the mornings, too.
The refuge office and the road leading to it are open only on weekdays, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Call the refuge at 429-3100 for more information.
P.S. ``AFRICAN-AMERICANS IN THE COAST GUARD'' opens Tuesday at the Life-Saving Museum of Virginia, 24th Street and Atlantic Avenue. The exhibit, free with admission to the museum, will be on display through Feb. 26. Call 422-1587.
WHALES, SEALS and other marine mammals are the topic of a program for children, 3 to 5, from 2 to 3:15 p.m. or 3:45 to 5 p.m. Wednesday at the Virginia Marine Science Museum. Call 437-4949 for reservation information. MEMO: Call me on INFOLINE, 640-5555. Enter category 2290. Or, send a computer
message to my Internet address: mbarrow(AT)infi.net.
ILLUSTRATION: Photos by MARY REID BARROW
ABOVE: For three years, this white pelican has spent the winter at
Mount Trashmore's Lake Windsor.
LEFT: This young deer was spotted at Mackay Island refuge.
by CNB