THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, January 5, 1997 TAG: 9701050068
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MEREDITH COHN, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHESAPEAKE LENGTH: 76 lines
Just as people vacation in warmer spots during winter months, thousands of snow geese and tundra swans have converged on Lake Drummond to wait out the coldest part of the year.
The geese, which fly from Alaska, and the swans, from Canada's tundra, make their way south around mid-November and stay for several months, said Lloyd Culp, manager of the Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge and a wildlife biologist.
And just as vacationers choose different beaches, some birds come to the swamp while others find separate isolated areas in Virginia, the Carolinas and Georgia. The birds also generally return each year to the same site.
``It's amazing,'' Culp said Saturday, describing the scene as the birds fly to and from the lake during the day. ``They will darken the sky.''
Mostly, the birds use the refuge's Lake Drummond for rest and recreation. Large congregations can be spotted in the mornings - from a safe distance in a boat half a mile to a mile away -covering big sections of the 3,100-acre lake.
They leave by late morning to feed on grasses in nearby farms and fields east of the swamp in Chesapeake, Culp said.
Drivers may be able to see collections of birds feeding during the day along Route 17, which runs parallel to the swamp on the east side.
Both geese and swans are white, but the swans are larger and have longer necks. Geese often have some coloration.
Both birds often fly in ``V'' formations. When thousands of them gather in one place, their chirping and hooting sounds a bit like an orchestra during practice.
This year, southeastern Virginia and northeastern North Carolina are working together to count the birds. They plan to start netting and banding some of them soon.
Biologists believe the numbers of visiting birds dipped last year, but the surveys were interrupted by federal government furloughs, and surveyors might have missed some birds, Culp said.
In the refuge and vicinity last year, estimates of snow geese, which travel in large packs, exceeded 10,000, Culp said.
Tundra swans numbered around 3,000 to 5,000.
Populations peak at different times each year depending on food availability in the North, so officials are waiting until the season is over to make estimates this year.
The birds also have been congregating in Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge and False Cape State Park in Virginia Beach.
While Lake Drummond remains open, access is regulated in the more heavily visited Virginia Beach preserves.
Donna Burnett, a member of the area's National Audubon Society chapter, said the birds are easily scared away by people and activity.
``That's why the roads sometimes are closed to False Cape,'' she said. ``They can die if they are pushed out of an area too fast.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
MIKE HEFFNER/The Virginian-Pilot
Tundra swans, wintering here from Canada, fly over Chesapeake's Lake
Drummond in a ``V'' formation Saturday. The swans move south around
mid-November and stay for several months.
MIKE HEFFNER/The Virginian-Pilot
STEVE EARLEY/The Virginian-Pilot
Thousands of snow geese, above, darken the sky as they fly over Lake
Drummond. The birds usually spend mornings on the water and then
leave by late morning to feed on grasses in nearby farms and fields
east of the swamp in Chesapeake. Tundra swans, below, are white,
like the snow geese, but are larger and have longer necks than the
geese.
MIKE HEFFNER/
Tundra swans fly over the waters of Lake Drummond in Chesapeake
Saturday. The swans, from Canada's tundra, make their winter home in
the Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge.
KEYWORDS: SWANS BIRD MIGRATION