FreeLists / va-bird / [va-bird] 5/3/06 - Possum Point, Occoquan Bay NWR; & Huntley Meadows

["Scott Priebe" <falco57@xxxxxxx>]

Birded Possum Point/Cockpit Rd. (6:15-9:15), Occoquan Bay NWR (9:40-12:30) and 
Huntley Meadows (1:30-4:00) today. Identified 88 species (seen and/or heard) 
(52 at PP, 62 at OB and 37 at HM). Picked up my 200th VA species (White-crowned 
Sparrow at OB), unfortunately no lifers. Saw 13 warbler species including FOS 
Yellow-breasted Chat (1 at Cockpit Rd, 3 at OBNWR), FOS Am. Redstart (1 each at 
OB and H.M.), and FOS Prothonotary W. (2-OB). Oddly, I had a Chestnut-sided W. 
at OB (around bend driving past Charlie Rd. marsh), but none at PP. Also, saw a 
winter plumage Palm Warbler at the OB parking lot (trees by the pond). This 
bird was overall brownish (no green tones) with pale-ish yellow on the rump and 
vent and no rufous cap with lots of tail pumping (matching Peterson's 
"confusing fall warbler" and Sibley's non-breeding western population 
pictures). 

Other highlights: at PP were Great Crested Flycatcher, Scarlet Tanager (2), 
Orchard Oriole, FOS Yellow-billed Cuckoo, and FOS Acadian Flycatcher along 
Cockpit Rd. and FOS Warbling Vireo and Tundra Swan (1) along Possum Pt. Rd.; at 
OB, >12 Yellow Warblers (stopped counting), Gr. Egret, Orchard (3) and FOS 
Baltimore Orioles; and at HM, >50 Solitary Sandpipers, ~10 each Lesser and 
Greater Yellowlegs, 10 Least Sandpipers, another Yellow-billed Cuckoo. Picked 
up two more species in my backyard (Downy WP and House Finch, go figure) to 
bring the day's tally to an even 90 species.

Scott Priebe
Springfield, VA