[va-bird] More Sparrow Hunting in No. VA - 10/27/02

VA BIRDers,

Yes, the sparrow-ing is not over.  But this year's pilot census's has given 
us great insights into sparrows up he-ar in the north.  Anyway, the rising 
sun this past Sunday found a bunch of us at Occoquan Bay NWR, Woodbridge, Pr 
Wm Co.  The team was Larry Cartwright, Laura Catterton, John Drummond, Bart 
Hutchinson, Mary Alice Koeneke, Glenn Koppel, Marc Ribaudo, and this 
observer.  Top bird at Occoquan was Grasshopper Sparrow.  Also notable were a 
few White-crowned Sparrows.  After the morning's activities throughly 
depleted our reserves (see below), a smaller group of us focused on the 
limited grasslands found inside Mason Neck SP - an area normally closed to 
the public.  Here top bird was Nashville Warbler.  Afterwards, I met up with 
Marc Ribaudo again and we went through Julie Metz Wetlands which yielded up a 
Brown Thrasher and a typical mix of sparrows.

Before getting to the dry statistics, let me acknowledge Virginia's Mason 
Neck State Park and US Fish & Wildlife for kindly granting permission to 
census their lands.  And, more importantly, let me extend a resounding thank 
you to Bart Hutchinson, whose near complete immersion into sparrow foraging 
behavior added Chipping Sparrow and White-crowned Sparrow tallies to the list!

The sparrow totals for the days activities follow; Occoquan/Mason Neck/Metz:

Chipping Sparrow 6/3/0
Field Sparrow 38/1/8
Savannah Sparrow 40/1/0
Grasshopper Sparrow 1/0/0
Song Sparrow 109/57/40
Swamp Sparrow 61/15/31
White-throated Sparrow 58/11/25
White-crowned Sparrow 7/0/0
DE Junco 0/2/0
party-hours 6.5/1/1.75
est. sparrow habitat coverage 30%/100%/100%

Comments:  We had naively thought that Occoquan would be challenging but 
doable.  Wrong.  Its sparrow habitat is very big and difficult to effectively 
census.  We used 2 teams for one wet area (north of the road between the gate 
and the visitor parking lot) which was tough treading due to water obstacles, 
vegetation denisity, etc.  The second area was more upland, this was east of 
the marshy area the wildlife drive passes through towards the old baseball 
field. Here we used the conga-line approach.  Again, this thickly vegetated 
area (with the addition of rubus!) sapped our strength as we sweeped an ca. 
50 acre portion of this field.  This location was rich in sparrows with 
representatives of all found species noted, incl. the Grasshopper Sparrow.  
Several other potentially important fields could not be sweeped during this 
hunt - perhaps next year we can form some additional teams to add to the mix?

The grasslands at Mason Neck SP total about 6-8 acres in size, bounded by 
dense forest and Belmont Bay - possibly perfect for holding sparrows on the 
move given its rich herbaceous vegetation.  Nothing unusual here except for 
the late Nashville, but good numbers of Swamp and Song for such a small area.

Julie Metz Wetlands is an extensive series of wetland cells separated by 
narrow forest/shrub boundaries about 15 acres in size and is adjacent to the 
large (400 acres?) Neabsco Creek marsh.  This location has given up Lincoln's 
Sparrows earlier this season and a Dickcissel was noted here last year.  
Nothing too unusual sparrow-wise, but good numbers for such a limited area.  
The surrounding Neabsco Cr marsh area was not censused for sparrows but 
likely holds many more.

Other highlights were (in total):

Bald Eagle 4
Sharp-shinned Hawk 3
Cooper's Hawk 2
Red-shouldered Hawk 4
Red-tailed Hawk 4
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker 1 (ONWR)
E. Phoebe 5
Winter Wren 3 (2 in ONWR)
GC Kinglet 8
RC Kinglet 22
Gray Catbird 1 (ONWR)
Brown Thrasher 1
Nashville Warbler 1 (MNSP)
Yellow-rumped Warbler ca. 100
Palm Warbler 5, one Eastern noted
E. Meadowlark 5 (OWNR)
Rusty Blackbird 14
Am. Goldfinch ca. 140, numbers similar to those a couple years ago during the 
last finch invasion.  

Kurt Gaskill



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