On Monday April 9 at 1:00 pm the Northern Neck Audubon Society will conduct a bird walk at Dameron Marsh Natural Area Preserve in Northumberland County. This 316 acre preserve lies on a peninsula jutting into the Chesapeake Bay. Dameron Marsh contains one of the most significant wetlands on the Chesapeake Bay for marsh-bird communities, and its pristine beach habitat is highly important for the federally threatened northeastern beach tiger beetle (Cicindela dorsalis dorsalis). Dameron Marsh supports impressive salt marsh communities, sand beach, and upland forest habitats. It offers expansive views of the Chesapeake Bay, Mill Creek and Ingram Bay. It also has a viewing platform, sand beaches, marshes and a large fallow field with scattered shrubs.

Among possible sightings are Blue-winged and Green-winged Teals, Horned Grebes, Red-breasted Mergansers, Brown Pelicans, Snowy Egrets, Northern Harriers, Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs, Forster’s Terns, American Kestrels, Tree Swallows, and Prairie Warblers.

Directions:

From Burgess, take Rt. 200 south. Go approximately 8 miles and turn left (east) on Shiloh School Road (Rt. 606). Go to the end and turn left onto Balls Neck Road (Rt. 605). Turn right on Cloverdale Road (Rt. 606) and then turn left on Guarding Point Lane (Rt. 693). Follow 693 to the parking lot in the preserve.

From Kilmarnock, take Rt. 200 north. Go approximately 5 miles and turn right (east) on Shiloh School Road (Rt. 606). Go to the end and turn left onto Balls Neck Road (Rt. 605). Turn right on Cloverdale Road (Rt. 606) and then turn left on Guarding Point Lane (Rt. 693). Follow 693 to the parking lot in the preserve.

There will be several pairs of loaner binoculars available. For cancellations notices, check this website.