[va-bird] NVBC walk at Occoquan NWR

Marc Ribaudo and I led a group of six birders this morning on a remarkable
walk at Occoquan.  Everyone else missed some of the best September birding
any of us could remember.  We started from the parking lot, where there were
a number of normal birds plus a Merlin flyover, walking around the pond on
Bayview Road and Charlie Road to the marshy area where Catamont Creek
crosses under Charlie Road.  The road was pretty quiet until we were about
to head back toward Easy Road when we spotted the first large mixed warbler
group of the day crossing Charlie Road.  Amazingly the group was
predominately Cape May warblers!  This group also included a Blackburnian
and several other warbler species.  

A few hundred yards down Easy Road we encountered another large mixed group
of warblers.  This group also was predominately Cape Mays, but the mix of
other warblers was quite different and included a few Parulas, a Wilson's, a
Nashville, Bay-breasted, Pine and others. 

As we walked further along Easy Road we encountered numerous yellow-rumped
warblers, and a number of other species including both Rose-breasted and
Blue Grosbeaks.  Indigo buntings were everywhere.   

The walk along Deephole Road and back to the parking lot was comparatively
uneventful but produced early ruddy ducks, and a horned grebe as well as
another Merlin flyover.

The number of 40 Cape May warblers listed below is not a misprint!  It's
only an approximation of course, but there might well have been more.  After
a while you get tired of holding your binoculars up and you start thinking,
"Oh, it's just another Cape May".  An amazing morning.

The complete list follows.  This was downloaded from ebird which doesn't
allow empid (sp) to be entered so I added that as a note.  

Steve Williams



Location:     Occoquan Bay NWR
Observation date:     9/30/06
Notes:      empidonax 2
Number of species:     76

Canada Goose     30
Wood Duck     4
Mallard     2
Ruddy Duck     25
Pied-billed Grebe     2
Horned Grebe     1
Double-crested Cormorant     24
Great Blue Heron     3
Great Egret     1
Bald Eagle     2
Sharp-shinned Hawk     2
Cooper's Hawk     1
Red-shouldered Hawk     2
Merlin     2
Laughing Gull     8
Ring-billed Gull     30
Herring Gull     3
Great Black-backed Gull     1
Forster's Tern     15
Mourning Dove     50
Chimney Swift     25
Belted Kingfisher     4
Red-bellied Woodpecker     6
Downy Woodpecker     6
Northern Flicker     25
Eastern Wood-Pewee     8
Eastern Phoebe     12
Red-eyed Vireo     5
Blue Jay     48
American Crow     50
Fish Crow     3
Northern Rough-winged Swallow     16
Barn Swallow     2
Carolina Chickadee     10
Tufted Titmouse     2
White-breasted Nuthatch     1
Carolina Wren     18
House Wren     2
Ruby-crowned Kinglet     8
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher     2
Eastern Bluebird     6
American Robin     7
Gray Catbird     26
Northern Mockingbird     13
Brown Thrasher     1
European Starling     50
Cedar Waxwing     6
Nashville Warbler     1
Northern Parula     2
Chestnut-sided Warbler     3
Magnolia Warbler     6
Cape May Warbler     40
Black-throated Blue Warbler     2
Yellow-rumped Warbler     25
Black-throated Green Warbler     1
Blackburnian Warbler     1
Pine Warbler     1
Palm Warbler     12
Bay-breasted Warbler     2
Blackpoll Warbler     3
Black-and-white Warbler     1
American Redstart     3
Common Yellowthroat     14
Wilson's Warbler     1
Eastern Towhee     2
Field Sparrow     5
Savannah Sparrow     2
Song Sparrow     5
Northern Cardinal     12
Rose-breasted Grosbeak     4
Blue Grosbeak     3
Indigo Bunting     22
Red-winged Blackbird     20
Brown-headed Cowbird     3
House Finch     12
American Goldfinch     13

This report was generated automatically by eBird v2 (http://www.ebird.org)

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