FreeLists / va-bird / [va-bird] Rough Red-necked Grebe Summary. Long.

[BlkVulture@xxxxxxx]

Greetings...

A month or so ago I mentioned that I would keep track of the Red-necked Grebe 
(RNGR) sightings for Virginia during their influx.  Here is a rough summary 
of what I was able to glean from VA-Birds, as well as private emails and 
faxes sent my way.  

Before I get into it, I'd like to point out a few problems with this sort of 
record keeping.  First, it is only as complete as the people who have been 
seeing this birds has made it.  I suspect that after reading this message, a 
lot of people will have many sightings and dates to add to the list.  Second, 
I'm sure I've missed a few birds.  Sometimes the mention of RNGR might be 
buried in a post to VA-Birds that I didn't read thoroughly.  Third, I am only 
on VA-Birds.  I don't subscribe to any of the other local or regional 
listservs in Virginia.  Fourth, I have many of the first dates for a 
particular location, but I have very few of the subsequent dates for the same 
location.  Some people have been emailing me when they see birds at the same 
location on multiple dates.  Others can follow up now if they'd like to.  

The format.  For now, what I've done is listed for each county and city, the 
amount of locations that I know of birds seen at, the first date for the 
county/city, the last date for the county/city, the high count for a single 
location, and the cumulative high count for a county/city.  You can see the 
problem with the last category.  Unless all the birds were seen on the same 
date at various locations, it is impossible to say how many birds were in 
counties/cities with multiple locations.  I've taken the liberty of making up 
a number for those situations.  Essentially I've estimated it the best I can. 
 

A couple problem areas.  First, the Potomac River.  As many here know, the 
vast majority of the Potomac is in Maryland or DC.  That said, there are 
chunks that are in Virginia.  Many of these locations are south of the 
Woodrow Wilson Bridge.  Upstream of it, most of the river is DC or Maryland.  
I suspect there are some coves and feeder stream mouths that are in Virginia, 
but most of the grebe reports haven't been specific enough for me to tell 
where the birds were.  As a result, I've deleted all the Riverbend and Great 
Falls sightings in Fairfax County, as well as the Algonkian sightings in 
Loudoun.  Downstream of the Wilson Bridge is more tricky.  All of the Dyke 
Marsh and Belle Haven reports were kept, as these birds were very likely in 
Virginia.  The area around the mouth of the Occoquan was also kept, as that 
is Virginia.  Leesylvania State Park has issues with the state line, but I 
suspect that the observers from that location would have specified if the 
birds were in Maryland, so they are presumed in Virginia.  (Reason for this 
is that I know the observers down there are well aware of the boundary.)  
Stafford County has issues, but the only location where they were seen was by 
me, and I know they were in Virginia.  The Northern Neck is a bit trickier, 
as the river again is almost all Maryland, with some coves and bays being the 
exception.  I've contacted some of the observers from that area and did the 
best I could.  

Second problem, the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel.  Depending on who you talk 
to, the waters around the islands are either Virginia Beach, Northampton 
County, or their own entity.  I don't buy the latter, but that isn't up to 
me.  What I've done there is put them all down as CBBT.  Oddly, the only 
report I have from the CBBT is from Island 3.  

Third thing.  Start date.  To me the push of grebes became obvious on 28 
February.  However, it started a bit earlier than that.  I've left the Fort 
Story and Rudee Inlet birds from the first few days of January out of this, 
as those were most likely the "background" birds that we can expect in 
Virginia.  Around 12 and 14 February, a couple birds started being reported 
away from the coast in Maryland, one from Riverbend Park in Fairfax County.  
The first bird in this summary comes from 16 February, from the CBBT.  While 
impossible to be certain whether that bird kicked this off, it was the only 
bird reported in the state since 4 January, so it was an easy starting point. 
 

Fourth thing.  Cities and Counties.  There are a couple areas that I'm a 
little fuzzy on as to where the birds precisely were.  Winchester and 
Frederick County is one spot, as is Alexandria and Fairfax County.  See below 
if you have any interest in clearing that up for me.  

The birds, alphabetical by location:

(HCSL is high count, single location; CHC is cumulative high count for all 
locations in that county/city)

ACCOMACK County: 1 Location, 10 Mar-10 Mar, 1 bird.
ARLINGTON County:  2 Locations, 28 Feb-6 April.  3 HCSL, 3 CHC.  I have a 
vague report as Four Mile Run, and have that in Arlington.  If that is wrong, 
then it goes to only one location and the start date becomes 15 March.
AUGUSTA County:  4 Locations, 8 Mar-15 Mar, 1 HCSL, 4 CHC.
BATH County:  1 Location, 2 Mar-16 Mar, 1 HCSL, 1 CHC.
BEDFORD County:  1 Location, 16 Mar-16 Mar, 1 HCSL, 1 CHC.
BOTETOURT County: 1 Location, 8 Mar-8 Mar, 1 HCSL, 1 CHC.
CARROLL County:  1 Location, 15 Mar-15 Mar, 1 HCSL, 1 CHC.
CBBT, 1 Location, 16 Feb-30 Mar, 3 HCSL, 3 CHC.
CHARLES CITY County:  2 Locations, 12 Mar-13 Mar, 3 HCSL, 4 CHC.
CHESTERFIELD County: 2 Locations, 1 Mar-7 Mar, 1 HCSL, 2 CHC.
CLARKE County: 1 Location (really a stretch of river miles long), 7 Mar-9 
Mar, 5 HCSL, 5 CHC.
FAIRFAX County: The Motherlode.  5 Locations, 18 Feb-6 April, 29 HCSL, 60 
CHC.
FAUQUIER County: 3 Locations, 3 Mar-9Apr, 3 HCSL, 4 CHC.
FREDERICK County: 3 Locations, 10 Mar-13 Mar, 1 HCSL, 3 CHC.  The locations I 
have as Frederick are Greensprings Lake, Lake Frederick, and Middletown.  If 
White's Lake is in Frederick, or any of these are in City of Winchester, then 
I'll need to amend it.  
GILES County: 1 Location, 4 Mar-4 Mar, 1 HCSL, 1 CHC.
GOOCHLAND County: 1 Location, 16 Mar-17 Mar, 2 HCSL, 2 CHC.
GRAYSON County: 1 Location, 17 Mar-26 Mar, 1 HCSL, 1 CHC.
GREENE County: 1 Location, 16 Mar-16 Mar, 4 HCSL, 4 CHC. 
HANOVER County: 1 Location, 9 Mar-9 Mar, 1 HCSL, 1 CHC.
JAMES CITY County: 1 Location, 12 Mar-12 Mar, 1 HCSL, 1 CHC.
KING GEORGE County: 1 Location, 4 Mar-9 Mar, 2 HCSL, 2 CHC.
LANCASTER County: 1 Location, 8 Mar-8 Mar, 1 to 3 HCSL, 1 to 3 CHC.
LOUDOUN County: 3 Locations, 2 Mar-28 Mar, 7 HCSL, 9 CHC.
LOUISA County: 4 Locations, 5 Mar-3 April, 4 HCSL, 5 CHC.
City of LYNCHBURG: 1 Location, 12 Mar-12 Mar, 1 HCSL, 1 CHC.
NEW KENT County:  1 Location, 12 Mar-12 Mar, 1 HCSL, 1 CHC.
NORTHAMPTON County: 2 Locations, 21 Feb-8 Apr, 2 HCSL, 3 CHC.
ORANGE County: 1 Location, 7 Mar-31 Mar, 3 HCSL, 3 CHC.
City of PORTSMOUTH: 1 Location, 9 Mar-9 Mar, 1 HCSL, 1 CHC.  I think I am 
missing stuff from Portsmouth.
PRINCE EDWARD County: 1 Location, 1 Mar-2 Mar, 1 HCSL, 1 CHC.
PRINCE WILLIAM County: 5 Locations, 1 Mar-2 Apr, 6 HCSL, 12 CHC.
City of RICHMOND:  2 Locations, 6 Mar-16 Mar, 3 HCSL, 4 CHC.
ROCKBRIDGE County: 1 Location, 2 Mar-5 Mar, 1 HCSL, 1 CHC.
ROCKINGHAM County:  2 Locations, 27 Feb-9 Mar, 1 HCSL, 2 CHC.
RUSSELL County: 3 Locations, 3 Mar-14 Mar, 5 HCSL, 9 CHC.  I suspect that 
people out there have better records than what I have here. 
SHENANDOAH County: 1 Location, 6 Mar-6 Mar, 1 HCSL, 1 CHC.
SPOTSYLVANIA County: 1 Location, 23 Mar-23 Mar, 1 HCSL, 1 CHC.
STAFFORD County: 2 Locations, 23 Mar-2 Apr, 2 HCSL, 3 CHC.
City of SUFFOLK: 1 Location, 10 Mar-10 Mar, 1 HCSL, 1 CHC.
TAZEWELL County, 1 Location, 16 Mar-16 Mar, 2 HCSL, 2 CHC.
City of VIRGINIA BEACH: 1 Location, 1 Mar-1 Mar, 2 HCSL, 2 CHC.  Something 
tells me this is very wrong.
WARREN County: 1 Location (a stretch of river miles long), 1 Mar-16 Mar, 7 
HCSL, 7 CHC.
WASHINGTON County:  1 location, 16 Mar-16 Mar, 1 HCSL, 1 CHC.
WESTMORELAND County: 2 Locations, 8 Mar-12 Mar, 2 HCSL, 3 CHC.
City of WINCHESTER: 1 Location, 5 Mar-14 Mar, 2 HCSL, 2 CHC.
York County:  3 Locations, 8 Mar-3 Apr, 1 HCSL, 3 CHC.







 





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Todd Day
Jeffersonton, VA
Culpeper County
Blkvulture@xxxxxxx
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