Bird Guide for

Pleasure House Point

Welcome to Pleasure House Point! This guide will help you identify a number of bird species you may find at Pleasure House Point Natural Area. The birds are divided into six categories:

Songbirds are very common and are known for their rhythmic calls and often melodious songs. Shorebirds are usually small birds that hunt for small fish, shellfish, and insects along the beach and mudflats. Wading Birds are large, usually have longer legs, and stalk the shoreline to catch and eat small crabs and fish. Waterfowl include ducks, geese, and swans. Technically not waterfowl, Brown Pelicans are included in this group. Gulls and terns are medium-size birds that fly, eat, and roost near the beaches. Terns are graceful in flight and dive head-first for fish; gulls are scavengers and opportunists of the

shores and waters. Raptors are predatory birds that eat fish, small mammals, or birds. This guide will help you explore the natural area and identify the birds you will see flying, walking, or swimming around you. See if you can identify all of the species.

Jamie Betts, Courtesy of Trust for Public Land

Special thanks to Steve Coari, Virginia Beach Audubon Society, and Bill Portlock, Chesapeake Bay Foundation Senior Educator for the Bay, for help with this guide.

Want to learn more about Pleasure House Point? Visit cbf.org/brock or email [email protected]

Photo Credits: 1) Steve Coari/Virginia Beach Audubon Society; 2) Richard Crossley/VIREO; 3) Bill Portlock/CBF; 4) Kelly Azar; 5) Erin Brogan/CBF Member; 6) Yuri Huta/CBF Member; 7) Pam Monahan; 8) Gerrit Vyn; 9) Kevin Bolton Songbirds Birds of the Shore

Nelson’s Sparrow Clapper Rail Ammodramus nelsoni Rallus longirostris

Lives in marshes, where it eats Heard more than seen, rails wade in marshes insects. Migrates here where they prey on small fish and crustaceans. only in the winter.

1 1 Greater Yellowlegs Pine Warbler

Setophaga pinus Tringa melanoleuca Nests in tall pine forests, where it eats A small speckled bird with yellow legs and a small insects. yellow bill typically seen probing mud flats.

1 1 1

Black Skimmer Eastern Towhee Pipilo erythrophthalamus Rynchops niger Looks similar to a robin but is smaller A gull-like bird and has a call that sounds like with a bright orange and black beak, “Towhee.” often skimming the water with its bill. 2 1

Seaside Sparrow Belted Kingfisher Ammodramus maritimus Megaceryle alcyon The darkest of sparrows, it lives in This very vocal bird often perches on the marsh year-round. branches or stakes over the water and dives into the water for small fish. 1 7

Yellow-Rumped Warbler 1 Killdeer Setophaga coronata Chararius vociferus Smallish winter resident often found in A plover that forages near forests with wax myrtle thickets. It eats the

myrtle’s waxy berries plus insects in the beach grasses and eats insects. forests or along the beach. 1 9 Wading Birds Waterfowl/Water Birds Great Egret Brown Pelican Ardea alba Pelicanus occidentalis Large, white, very common on the Common large-beaked pelican that lives shoreline; wades in the water and near beaches and dives headfirst into the spears fish with its sharp, long beak. water for fish. 1 1 Green Heron Bufflehead Butorides virescens Bucephala albeola

Small, stocky heron has orange Small diving duck with a large white spot eyes and feathers with a hint of on each side of its rounded head; often purple and green. seen in winter. 1 1 Yellow Crowned Pied-billed Grebe Night Heron Podilymbus podiceps Nyctanassa violacea A very small chicken-like swimmer that dives Crow-size, usually nocturnal heron to the bottom of lakes and rivers to eat small with grey feathers and white and fish, insect larvae, and soft plants. black head as adult. 1 1 Hooded Merganser American Bittern Botaurus lentiginosus Lophodytes cucullatus Marsh dweller whose mixture of Magnificent smallish duck with very large, grey and brown feathers act as very colorful head plumage; dives underwater for good camouflage. fish and crustaceans. 4 1

Mallard Great Blue Heron Anas platyrhynchos Ardea herodias Most common duck; males are white, Extremely long neck and legs; has black, gray, and brown with a green head; grayish blue feathers and a sharp, females are all brown. They tip tail-up to orange beak. feed in shallow water. 3 5 Gulls and Terns Raptors Royal Tern Osprey Thalasseus maximus Pandion haliaetus

A large tern that is known for its Large hawk that nests around the bay in dead trees or man-made structures during the headfirst free-fall dives for small fish and shrimp; only found summer; usually seen in the nest 1 along beaches. 1 or flying with a fish. American Bald Eagle Laughing Gull Haliaeetus leucocephalus Leucophaeus atricilla Largest raptor at Pleasure House Point. Very common gull with the Nests in large live trees near water Jan.-June. well-known gull call; Adults have white head and tail with dark has a completely black head. brown body. Sub-adults have brownish 3 1 plumage. Great Black-backed Gull Merlin

Larus marinus Falco columbarius Our largest gull; has a Meduim-size falcon that lives in wide-open completely white body with spaces and open-forested areas. Preys on charcoal black wings, yellow smaller birds. beak, and pink legs. 1 8

Common Tern Red-tailed Hawk Sterna hirundo Buteo jamaicensis Fork-tailed bird with a white A large hawk with a very broad wingspan. body, grey wings, and reddish Adults have a rusty red tail orange beak and legs. Plunge- and a “Kee-yeeer” call. dives for small fish. 1 1 1 Herring Gull

Larus argentatus Peregrine Falcon Common large, white gull with Falco peregrinus grey wings, yellow beak, and a Medium size, greyish falcon that often preys loud call. on birds and can fly at over 100 mph. 6 1