FreeLists / va-bird / [va-bird] Northern Neck 2/1

["Adam D'Onofrio" <BIGADFROMLB@xxxxxxx>]

Today I drove up to do some birding on the Northern Neck in the hopes of
finding the good birds seen recently.  My first stop was at Dameron
Marsh in Northumberland Co..  I spent about 4 and a half hours there and
covered a lot of ground but was unable to relocate the Pacific Loon
reported last week.  I did see about 8 COMMON LOONS in my travels.  Also
present were many REDHEAD hanging out with the TUNDRA SWANS and MUTE
SWANS near the marsh.  In the Chesapeake Bay, I came across a huge raft
of CANVASBACKS and RUDDY DUCKS as well as HORNED GREBE, GREAT BLUE
HERON, 1 male COMMON GOLDENEYE, 2 LONG-TAILED DUCKS, AMERICAN WIGEON,
GADWALL, RED-BREASTED MERGANSERS and plenty of BUFFLEHEADS.
YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLERS and AMERICAN ROBINS were plentiful and a
SHARP-SHINNED HAWK was seen circling overhead.  Had a nice flock of
DUNLIN too.

After leaving Dameron Marsh, I shot up to the Wilna Tract of the
Rappahannock NWR to look for the Clay-colored and LeConte's Sparrows.  I
spent 2+ hours there but could not locate either sparrow.  Besides the
common sparrow species, I saw an imm. NORTHERN HARRIER over the fields,
2 BALD EAGLES (1 imm. and 1 ad.) and 3 RED-TAILED HAWKS performing a
ballet in the sky.

Finally, on my way home, I scoped a huge flock of CANADA GEESE in a
marsh on Newland Road but it failed to yield any unusual geese.  There
were 5 ad. BALD EAGLES fishing in the same area with 2 of them fighting
over one fish.  Pretty impressive.  Even though I was 0-3 on rarities,
it was still a wonderful day of winter birding in Virginia.  Good
birding.

Adam D'Onofrio
Dinwiddie Co.

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