Seven people joined me this morning for the regular Sunday Field Trip at
Dyke Marsh. It was a gorgeous day, bright blue skies and only a little on the
cold side. But there was nothing exceptional on the birding front. No vocal or
visual signs of the ten Winter Wrens noted last week, though the habitat is
just fine for them; I am sure there must have been some still around. Ditto
for
the Fox Sparrow. But we did see quite a few Swamp Sparrows, including one
that sat up brilliantly for quite a while, giving one of our number a splendid
life bird.
The strangest bird was an immature Bald Eagle, with plumage characteristics
that none of us had ever seen before - looked more like an African Martial
Eagle! Details after the full list:
(NO Red-throated Loon)
(NO Pied-billed Grebe)
Double-crested Cormorant (about 8, all apparently immature birds)
Great Blue Heron (9)
Canada Goose (not counted)
Mallard (not counted)
Bufflehead (2 males and 6 females in a single group)
Red-breasted Merganser (5)
Bald Eagle (1 adult; 1 immature)
Red-shouldered Hawk (1)
Red-tailed Hawk (1)
Killdeer (18)
Laughing Gull (numbers well down now, only about 50 left)
Ring-billed Gull (many hundreds)
Herring Gull (17)
Great Black-backed Gull (22)
(NO terns)
Rock Dove (20+)
Mourning Dove (30+)
Belted Kingfisher (1)
Red-bellied Woodpecker (1)
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (1)
Downy Woodpecker (9)
Blue Jay (9)
American Crow (5)
Fish Crow (24)
Carolina Chickadee (11)
Tufted Titmouse (6)
White-breasted Nuthatch (2)
(Brown Creeper: 1 reported by a participant, prior to start of Field Trip)
Carolina Wren (12+)
Golden-crowned Kinglet (7)
Ruby-crowned Kinglet (4)
(Hermit Thrush: 1 reported to us by a non-participant)
American Robin (1)
Northern Mockingbird (13)
European Starling (not counted)
(American Pipit: 2 fly-overs reported to us by a non-participant)
Eastern Towhee (6)
Song Sparrow (20)
Swamp Sparrow (8)
White-throated Sparrow (24 - much singing)
Northern Cardinal (18)
Red-winged Blackbird (one flock of about 30)
House Finch (8)
American Goldfinch (10)
House Sparrow (2)
The immature Bald Eagle: First spotted in bare trees near the new bridge,
Virginia side, very close to an adult bird. Later they were seen from the
Stone
Bridge on two small 'bushes' in the mud flats, with the adult later coming
to the same 'bush' as the immature bird. Observed eventually at 500 yards
under 45 power telescope.
Size of the immature bird was equal to the adult, and they were clearly
"together".
The head of the immature bird was patterned like an Osprey, except that the
'white' bits were medium gray. The back was fairly typical: brown with many
flecks of white. The throat and upper breast appeared to be solidly dark
brown, with only a few small flecks of white; the lower border of this area
was a
deep zig-zag. The strangest part was the lower breast and belly: clear white,
but dotted all over with black, which reminded me of a Martial Eagle. No
details of the tail could be seen.
Stephen Eccles
