[va-bird] Glaucous Gull, Pr Wm Co Landfill, 1/28/07

VA BIRDers,

 

Rich and I were enroute to Nokesville in attempt to re-find the Ross's Gull.
Since we were passing the Prince William County landfill (Rt 234, west of
I-95) we noted many gulls were on the ball field. So we stopped and a quick
scan picked up an adult Lesser Black-backed Gull and then a Glaucous Gull
(bigger than the Herring Gulls, bicolored, bill, pale all over, first
winter).  Before we could get out of the car (or scan the other 80% of the
gulls) an adult Bald Eagle flew over and sent all to the sky.  Too Bad!
They never returned, so we continued on our way to the Nokesville area.

 

Fine birding at Nokesville, wish we had more time.  Highlights were a nice
group of 26 Wilson's Snipe on Parkgate Rd (near the stream crossing) which
put up a few times and some of which posed for a few minutes, too (enough
for a picture).  A local Bald Eagle held court across the road in the
tallest of a group of trees surrounded by his subjects - the mixed blackbird
flock.  We could see many Rusty Blackbirds - 24 - and I noted at least 1 and
probably 2 Brewer's Blackbirds.  Also there were many Common Grackles and
Red-winged Blackbirds mixed in.  Nearby was the first large flock of Eastern
Meadowlarks we spied - about 50.  Later we found another group a mile plus
away numbering 35 to 40.  Awesome numbers for January!  We looked for field
birds and found mixed groups of Eastern Bluebirds, American Goldfinch and
House Finch foraging in short grass fields.  In hedgerows was the occasional
White-crowned Sparrow.  But, our searches failed to produce the hoped-for
white goose; we tallied at least 1500 geese, mostly flying.  The raptors
were quite nice though; our 3-hour tour produced 2 Bald Eagles, 1 Northern
Harrier, a Cooper's Hawk, 8 Red-shouldered Hawks, 2 Red-tailed Hawks and 6
American Kestrels.  Wish we had more time out there!

 

Kurt Gaskill

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