Alternative Energy Draft EA - NASA Visitor Center at Wallops Flight ...

3.2.4.1 Birds
Henslow’s Sparrow
Affected Environment
Henslow’s sparrow is a small bird characterized by a large flat, striped olive-colored head, large
gray bill, and short tail. In Virginia, they are rare transient, summer residents and winter visitors
in the coastal plain with the only known summer occurrences in Accomack County. This species
is believed to breed between May 15 and August 31 in neglected weedy fields commonly
dominated by broom sedge, wet meadows, and the edges salt marshes. It occasionally inhabits
dry and cultivated uplands, may favor moist lowland habitat and may use areas with widely
scattered shrubs. It prefers undisturbed non-maintained areas and breeds in a variety of grassland
habitats with tall, dense grass and herbaceous vegetation. The nonbreeding habitat during
migration and winter includes moist grassy areas adjacent to open pine or second-growth forests.
Upland Sandpiper
Upland Sandpiper is medium-sized and the most terrestrial of North American shorebirds. Adults
are overall scaly-brown in appearance above with a long slender neck, small rounded head, and
large eye. Upland Sandpipers arrive in northern breeding areas in April/May and depart by
September. Peak spring migration through the U.S. Mid-Atlantic States occurs in April. In
Virginia, they are rarely seen in spring and late fall along the coast, and mostly seen in early fall.
The preferred habitat of the Upland Sandpiper consists of large open grasslands, greater than
40.5 hectares (>100 acres), which are not extensively grazed or mowed and include large areas
of short grass for feeding and courtship with interspersed or adjacent taller grasses for nesting
and brood cover.
Piping Plover
Piping Plover is a small shorebird known to breed along the beaches of Wallops Island. Piping
Plovers are small, beige and white shorebirds with a black band across their breast and forehead.
The Plover breeds on coastal beaches from Newfoundland and southeastern Quebec to North
Carolina, and winters primarily on the Atlantic Coast from North Carolina to Florida. Piping
Plover habitat includes ocean beaches or sand or algal flats in protected bays, expansive sand
flats, sandy mudflats, and sandy beaches. Nesting territories are establishing and courtship rituals
are conducted beginning in late March or early April. Nests are situated above the high tide line
on coastal beaches, sandflats at the ends of sand spits and barrier islands, gently sloping
foredunes, blowout areas behind primary dunes, and washover areas cut into or between dunes.
The Piping Plover is known to nest on Wallops Island, and portions of the island are managed as
protected areas by NASA (Figure 14). The northern and southern beaches have been closed to
vehicle and human traffic during the Plover’s nesting season (March 15–September 1) since
1986. Biologists from the CNWR monitor Piping Plover nesting activities and advise NASA on
protection and management of the species. Biologists from the WFF USDA Wildlife Service
Office aid with predator control.
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