FreeLists / va-bird / [va-bird] Good Birding Day in Pr Wm Co, 5/3/03

[KurtCapt87@xxxxxxx]

VA BIRDers,

It was my intention Saturday to bird Prince William Co.  I attempted to follow 
Marc Ribaudo's philosophy of keeping it simple and be home for dinner.  So, I 
headed out early Saturday morning to the Quantico/Prince William Forest Park 
area and started a fine day of birding.  I netted 135 species and got home for 
dinner at about 7pm.  Best highlights for me were the previously posted 
Black-billed Cuckoo and American Pipits.

My plan was an offshoot of the discussion Marc and I had about the wonderful 
habitats in Prince William Co that can be accessed in a relatively short 
distance.  The Possum Point area and Leesylvania SP are excellent early morning 
migrant locations.  Occoquan Bay NWR is an excellent grassland/marshland area.  
The nearby Prince William Forest Park (NPS) is a huge tract of nearly unbroken 
piedmont forest.  And with a little bit of driving, the birder can visit 
wonderful piedmont edge locations at the Manassas Battlefield and Nokesville 
area.  Two wetlands mitigation sites are located nearby.

I arrived at the Quantico/Prince William Forest Area (Fleetwood Rd and MBQ-8) 
at about 5 am, meeting Bev Leeuwenberg and Ruth Ann Eddins (pardon any spelling 
errors ladies!).  We tallied the big owls, Whip-poor-wills, American Woodcock, 
and Yellow-breasted Chats relatively quickly.  We even got to hear 2 different 
Ovenbirds do the long song (so very different than the "teach-teach" refrain).  
As dawn approached, we left but stopped at nearby creek crossing and quickly 
heard Veery, LA Waterthrush and Kentucky Warblers.  Ruth Ann parted with us as 
Bev and I drove to the Possum Pt Area.

We ran into Sue Heath on Possum Pt Rd and birded a few spots tallying Belted 
Kingfisher, Wood Ducks, and Yellow-throated Vireo.  We continued onto Cockpit 
Rd where we met with Laura Catterton.  As we walked the road, we came across 
many migrants with highlights of Yellow-billed Cuckoo, RT Hummingbirds, Acadian 
Flycatchers, Blue-headed Vireo, Swainson's Thrush, and Cedar Waxwings.  We 
tallied 20 warbler species in the Possum Pt area, including Blue-winged, 
Tennessee, Nashville, Cape May (I missed this one), Bay-breased, Hooded, and 
Wilson's.  We also noted Rose-breasted Grosbeak.

We traveled to Leesylvania SP, parting with Laura.  Here we met up with Linda 
Millington.  Bev continued onto another spot in the park, and so Sue, Linda and 
I birded the Lee ruins hillside area.  Highlights at the park were a 
hundred-plus Chimney Swifts, Red-headed WP (at the Powell Cr parking lot), 
swallows, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Chestnut-sided Warbler, more Cape May Warblers 
(I got on these), at least 8 Blackpolls, Summer Tanager, a White-throated 
Sparrow, Blue Grosbeak and orioles.

Sue left and Linda and I traveled to Julie Metz to look for rails.  We failed 
on the rails but noted Broad-winged Hawks, Warbling Vireo, Yellow Warblers, and 
Swamp Sparrows.  We then drove to Occoquan BAy NWR getting the previously 
mentioned highlight species plus Lesser Scaup, Red-breased Merganser, Ruddy 
Ducks, Boneparte's Gulls, the 3 typical gulls, Caspian Terns, two dozen more 
Yellow Warblers, a half dozen Prothonotary Warblers, a Northern Waterthrush, 
and a few Rusty Blackbirds.

At this point (about 2:30pm) I sensed the day was going well and decided to 
pick up a few more species out in the piedmont.  So, we drove to Manassas 
Battlefield and quickly found a half dozen Grasshopper Sparrows and a few 
Eastern Meadowlarks. We then traveled to North Forks Wetlands (accessed kindly 
granted by the Boy Scouts of America) where we found the ducks were gone but 
still had a Pied-billed Grebe.  Joining the PBG were Lesser Yellowlegs, and 
Solitary and Spotted Sandpipers.

We then traveled to the Nokesville area, passing by a half dozen White-crowned 
Sparrows near a stream crossing.  We continued onto Cedar Run Wetlands and 
found the shorebird bonanza previously mentioned by Laura Catterton on this 
listsever.  Here we noted nearly 3 dozen Pectoral Sandpipers, a handfull of 
Least Sandpipers, plus a few Wilson's Snipe.  In the background were six 
Green-winged Teal and more Rusty Blackbirds.

On the way back, we noted a Cooper's Hawk on a wire.

Below are some statistics of the more interesting birds. Numbers are estimates.

Kurt Gaskill

Pied-billed Grebe 1
Wood Duck 12
Lesser Scaup 4
RB Merganser 7
Ruddy Duck 50
Boneparte's Gull 60
Black-billed Cuckoo 1
Yellow-billed Cuckoo 6
Whippoorwill 2 (tough night)
RT Hummingbird 4
Belted Kingfisher 1
Red-headed WP 1
Acadian Flycatcher 6
Great Crested Flycatcher 13
E. Kingbird 8
White-eyed V 14
Yellow-throated V 1
Blue-headed V 1
Warbling V 1
Red-eyed V 42
House Wren 8
RC Kinglet 1
BG Gnatcatcher 40
Veery 1
Swainson's Thrush 1
Wood Thrush 8
Gray Catbird 16
Brown Thrasher 3
Am. Pipit 2
Cedar Waxwing 42
Blue-winged 1
Tennessee 1
Nashville 3
No. Parula 13
Yellow 22
Chestnut-sided 1
Cape May 3
Black-thr Blue 4
Yellow-rumped 50
Black-thr Green 7
Yellow-throated 8
Pine 5
Prairie 8
Bay-breasted 1
Blackpoll 9
Black & White 5
Am. Redstart 13
Prothonotary 6
Worm-eating 17
Ovenbird 9
No. Waterthrush 1
LA Waterthrush 4
Com Yellowthroat 70
Hooded 4
Wilson's 1
YB Chat 9
Summer Tanager 1
Scarlet Tanager 13
Grasshopper Sparrow 6
White-crowned Sparrow 6
Rose-breasted Grosbeak 2
Blue Grosbeak 1
Indigo Bunting 14
Rusty Blackbird 10
Orchard O 28
Baltimore O 13


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