[va-bird] Dyke Marsh BIRDING - OC warbler continues

Taking advantage of the balmy spring-like weather (I
think it was actually in the 30s today), I went down
to Dyke Marsh this afternoon with Jason Waanders.

The highlight was the orange-crowned warbler found by
Kurt earlier this week.  The warbler was actively
foraging by itself on the east side of the Parkway.  I
would guess it was about half way between the stone
bridge and the furthest parking lot at Dyke Marsh.  It
gave us some really nice looks in the low late
afternoon sun.  The bird appears to be an adult, as it
is fairly extensively yellow on its lower belly and
undertail coverts.  The head was grayish-olive and the
back and flanks were olive with a hint of yellow.  The
low sun probably made its appearance warmer than
normal though.  While we were watching it, a sharpie
flew in close to the warbler and the warbler
disappeared not to be seen again.  The sharpie didn't
catch anything though, so I think it was OK.

The duck diversity is pretty high (16 sp.) and we saw
all of the species Kurt reported on Friday plus a pair
of wood ducks seen on Hunting Creek from the stone
bridge.  There was also a ruby-crowned kinglet just
south of the bridge on the west side of the road. 
This is the first one I've seen for a while, they seem
to be scarce this winter.  Interestingly, there
appeared to be far fewer common mergansers than Kurt
reported on Friday.  A largish flock of coots (2-300)
were standing in a tight flock on the ice near the
middle of the Potomac.  We could also just about make
out a large raft of scaup close to the Maryland shore.
 We also saw a single catbird near the end of the
boardwalk trail.  A nice afternoon overall with 49
species.

Philip Kline

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