[va-bird] Fairfax County/24 February

Va-bird,
Today I went out to do some cleanup birding around the county, which wasn't 
incredibly successful.  I started out at Hunting Creek to try to refind the 
California Gull.  Jon Little was already there, and despite fairly extensive 
searching on both sides of the bridge, we failed to find the bird.  Wish I'd 
gone this afternoon.  The main highlight at Hunting Creek was the 5 Lesser 
Yellowlegs.  I haven't heard reports of them there over the winter so I 
assume they are migrants (nice and early).  Also present were the typical 
gulls, Pied-billed Grebe, 3 Bald Eagles, some Common Mergansers, and a fair 
number of Green-winged Teal.  I didn't walk out Haul Road, but did stop by 
the marina at Dyke Marsh.  The only thing of note there was a group of 
Bufflehead.

I made a brief stop at Cameron Run Regional Park to see the old Barnacle 
Goose.  It was in fine form, hanging out with the Canadas on the ball field. 
  There was a Red-shouldered Hawk hunting along the edge of Cameron Run as 
well.

Next stop was Pohick Bay where I attempted to refind the Golden Eagle (would 
have been a nice county bird).  No such luck.  A fair bit of scanning did 
turn up a number of raptors.  Totals were 16 Bald Eagles, 2 Red-tailed 
Hawks, 1 Northern Harrier, and a few Turkey Vultures.  There was a also a 
nice group of Black Ducks.  Here is the complete list for the day (didn't do 
much birding for passerines, obviously):

Pied-billed Grebe - 1
Double-crested Cormorant - 2
Great Blue Heron - 7
Black Vulture - 2
Turkey Vulture - 4
Barnacle Goose - 1
Canada Goose - ~260
Green-winged Teal - 58
Black Duck - ~150
Mallard - ~35
Bufflehead - 8
Common Merganser - 19
Bald Eagle - 22
Northern Harrier - 1
Red-shouldered Hawk - 1
Red-tailed Hawk - 2
Killdeer - ~30
Lesser Yellowlegs - 5
Ring-billed Gull
Herring Gull
Great Black-backed Gull
Rock Dove - 14
Mourning Dove - 4
Belted Kingfisher - 2
Downy Woodpecker - 1
American Crow
Fish Crow
Carolina Chickadee - 3
Tufted Titmouse - 5
Carolina Wren - 2
Eastern Bluebird - 8
American Robin - 1
European Starling - ~40
Northern Cardinal - 6
Song Sparrow - 7
White-throated Sparrow - 3
Red-winged Blackbird - 9

Later,
Alex

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Alex Merritt - 17
cerulean182@xxxxxxxxxxx
Oak Hill, VA

"Many dreams come true and some have silver linings
I live for my dream and a pocketful of gold.
Mellow is the man who knows what he's been missing
Many many men can't see the open road."

                -Zep



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