The Hampton Roads Bird Club and the Williamsburg Bird Club have adopted the Western Shore Marshes IBA, one of the Important Bird Areas designated by the National Audubon Society.

This page gives updates about the work our clubs are doing to take care of this area.

LINKS:

Species of birds we are tracking in the Western Shore Marshes IBA

Virginia's Important Bird Areas Program

March 11 Survey

Six members of the Hampton Roads and Williamsburg Bird Clubs assembled in Gloucester County on 11 March to conduct a survey of our IBA.  Cheryl Jacobson, Geoff Giles, Jane Frigo, Brent Slaughter, Laura Slaughter and Dave Youker conducted a bird survey at seven locations along the shores of the Guinea Neck and Robbins Neck areas.

The original survey date was 3 March, but the event was postponed due to rain.  The weather was much more cooperative on 11 March with temperatures ranging into the 60s.  While much of the area is private, we were able to get some shore access.  The remainder of the time was spent assessing the adjacent wood and field lots.

Total species count for the day was 48, and several of the WSM IBA nomination species were found.  The highlight had to be the 14 Brown-headed Nuthatches discovered along the Jenkins Rd area.

The next visit to our IBA hasn’t been scheduled yet, but an announcement will be forthcoming.  If you do a bird walk at a location within our IBA, please forward your species count to Dave Youker at youkerd@aol.com.