Here’s our running list of birds sighted on Assateague this month! Gathered from skimmming e-bird, “bird boards” online and talking to guests who were on the lookout. Please comment & contribute anything you have seen this month that isn’t mentioned! We’re also interested in any “lifers” you’ve ever seen here on Chincoteague or Assateague– or those you’re watching for! If this is a hit, we’ll keep it up.
Oct. 1-20
american bittern
american black duck
american golden plover
american goldfinch
american kestrel
american redstart
american robin
american widgeon
bald eagle
baltimore oriole
barred owl
belted kingfisher
black bellied plover
blackbilled cuckoo
black scoter
blue-headed vireo
bluejay
brown creeper
brown pelican
brown-headed cowbird
brown-headed Nuthatch
canadian goose
carolina chickadee
carolina wren
chimney swift
clapper rail
common loon
cooper’s hawk
double-crested cormorant
downy woodpecker
dunlin
eastern meadowlark
eastern wood-pewee
egrets (many, including great and cattle)
eastern bluebird
eastern phoebe
eastern towhee
european starling
fish crow
gadwall
grackle (including common and boat-tailed)
great horned owl
greater yellowlegs
grey catbird
gulls (everyone’s favorite– ha! Including great black-backed, lesser black-backed, laughing, ring-billed, herring)
hairy woodpecker
herons (many, including great blue, little blue, green, black& yellow crowned night, and Louisiana/tri-color)
horned lark
house finch
house wren
ibis (white and glossy)
indigo bunting
killdeer
kinglet (golden and ruby-crowned)
mallard
marbled godwit
marsh wren
merlin
mourning dove
northern cardinal
northern flicker
northern harrier
northern mockingbird
northern parula
northern pintail
northern shoveler
osprey
oystercatcher
peregrine falcon
pied-billed grebe
piping plover
red-breasted merganser
red-bellied woodpecker
red-eyed vireo
red knot
red-tailed hawk
red-winged blackbird
rock pidgeon
royal tern
ruddy turnstone
sanderling
sandpiper (many, including western, pectoral, least, spotted, white-rumped)
semi-palmated plover
semi-palmated sandpiper
sharp-shinned hawk
short-billed dowitcher
skimmer (black)
snow goose (early this year!)
sparrow (many– savannah, chipping, field, lark, song, swamp, seaside, white-throated, clay-colored included)
northern rough-winged swallow
teal (blue and green wing)
tern (many– royal, forster’s, sandwich, and caspain included)
tree swallow
tufted titmouse
turkey vulture
warblers (many– black and white, yellow-throat, black-throated blue, palm, blackpoll, pine, yellow rumped)
willet
wilson’s snipe
white-breasted nuthatch
wood duck
yellow-billed cuckoo
yellow-bellied sapsucker
yellowthroat