I took yesterday off and spent several hours at Occoquan Bay NWR and
about an hour at Burke Lake.
The number of Osprey building nests was impressive to me. But this is
only the second time I've been to there, I'd appreciate some offline
notes from people that have been going there for awhile to let me know
if this is the normal Osprey breeding population there, or if the
numbers are up.
When I was walking along Belmont Bay facing Mason Neck, there are some
small islands in the bay and there were four active Osprey nests there
and I saw one active nest in a tree along the shore. Throughout the
park, I think I saw at least a half dozen other nests, so I think I saw
11-12 nesting pairs and that was without planning to count them, so
there may well be more than that.
The other fun sighting for me was a group of about 8 Wild Turkeys while
walking along the fence next to the golf course.
I got a few new pictures. If you'd like to look, here's a link:
http://www.techsolvers.com/WebGallery/pages/new_index.htm
My list at the NWR:
American Crow
American Goldfinch
Canada Goose
Carolina Chickadee
Carolina Wren
Common Grackle
Cooper's Hawk
Downy Woodpecker
Eastern Bluebird
Eastern Phoebe
Eastern Towhee
Field Sparrow
Fish Crow
Great Blue Heron
House Finch
Mallard
Northern Cardinal
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Red-tailed Hawk
Song Sparrow
Tree Swallow
White-breasted Nuthatch
White-throated Sparrow
Lesser Scaup
Ruddy Duck
Osprey
Ring-billed Gull
Double-crested Cormorant
Wild Turkey
I didn't try to list everything I saw at Burke Lake. I dropped by there
hoping to take some more Wood Duck pictures. I went back where I had
seen them before but they were not there. When I gave up looking and
started to walk back to my car, the pair flew directly over my head
calling (as if to tease me for not finding them). I did have a couple
fun sightings. A Hermit Thrush posed very nicely for me. And there was
a Horned Grebe over by the marina. Too far away for any good pictures,
but I did get a few shots. I included on in my new pictures page. On
the water, I did see:
Lesser Scaup
Ruddy Duck
Double-crested Cormorant
Mallard
Wood Duck (in the air - not on the water)
Hooded Grebe
American Coot
There was probably more there, but since I was on a specific mission, I
didn't try to ID everything out there.
--allen hart
-- Herndon, VA
You are subscribed to VA-BIRD. To post to this mailing list, simply send email
to va-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx. To unsubscribe, send email to
va-bird-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with 'unsubscribe' in the Subject field.
