I led the Dyke Marsh bird walk this morning with the help of Linda
Millington, and the dozen or so birders who joined us had a fun morning.
We saw a good mix of late migrants and local specialties. Top birds
were mourning warbler along Haul Rd., least bittern and marsh wren in
the marsh, and canvasback, lesser scaup, bufflehead and American wigeon
in the river. An unusual event was seeing a large snake (blacksnake?)
on top of the martin house in the middle of the marsh crawling into one
of the nest holes. Tree swallows apparently had a nest there. Here is
a list of what we saw:
Double-crested Cormorant 75
Gr. Bl. Heron 20
Least bittern 1 (seen by only 1 person)
C. Goose 75
Mallard 10
Wood duck 2
Am. Wigeon 2
Canvasback 1
Ls. scaup 2
Ring-necked duck 1 (Firestone)
Bufflehead 1
Osprey 8
Am. coot 2
Spotted sandpiper 1
Ring-billed gull 2
Rock dove 8
mourning dove 8
Chimney swift 2
Red-bellied woodpecker 4
Downy woodpecker 3 (with young)
N. flicker 1
E wood pewee 2
E. kingbird 4 (on nest, seen from end of boardwalk)
Purple martin 2
Tree swallow 6
N. rough-winged swallow 2
Barn swallow 12
Car. wren 8
Marsh wren 5
Blue jay 2
Am. crow 8
Fish crow 1
Blue-gray gnatcatcher 4
Am. robin 4
Gr. catbird 1
N. mockingbird 1
Cedar waxwing 24
E. starling 8
White-eyed vireo 2
Warbling vireo 5 (building nest in picnic area)
Red-eyed vireo 3
Northern parula 6
Yellow warbler 4
Magnolia warbler 1
Blackpoll warbler 8
Prothonotary warbler 1
Mourning warbler 1
Com. yellowthroat 5
N. cardinal 12
Indigo bunting 2
Chipping sparrow 1
Song sparrow 3
Red-winged blackbird 24
Common grackle 10
Baltimore oriole 12 (pair building nest along boardwalk)
Orchard oriole 6
house finch 6
Am. goldfinch 18
house sparrow 6
Marc Ribaudo
Woodbridge, VA
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