I birded Occoquan NWR this morning from sunup to around 10am. It was a
beautiful morning, and the birds were hopping. Bucketloads of sparrows were
flying in and out of the grass and bushes. I found 9 species, including
eastern towhee, vesper, lincoln's, song, swamp, savannah, field, white-throated
and white-crowned. I was able to id only a fraction of the ones I saw, so
there may be other goodies lurking around. I also heard a king rail in the
marsh along the wildlife drive, flushed 3 bobwhite, and saw rusty blackbird,
meadowlark, and 2 late chimney swifts. From the point looking out across the
Occoquan River there was a nice mix of waterfowl, including coot, pied-billed
grebe, gadwall, am. wigeon, shoveller, pintail and mallard. I finished up with
61 species. Here is a list and approximate numbers:
pb grebe - 4
dc cormorant - 1
gb heron - 1
c. goose - 50
wood duck - 6
am. wigeon - 2
gadwall - 1
mallard - 12
no. pintail - 1
no. shoveller - 3
t. vulture - 1
b. eagle - 3
r.s hawk - 1
r.t hawk - 1
no. bobwhite - 3
k. rail - 1
am. coot - 20
ring-billed gull - 20
herring gull - 5
laughing gull - 1
forster's tern - 20
rock pigeon - 8
mourning dove - 25
ch. swift - 2
belted kingfisher - 1
red-bellied woodpecker - 2
downy woodpecker - 2
northern flicker - 2
pileated woodpecker - 1
eastern phoebe - 2
golden-crowned kinglet - 8
ruby-crowned kinglet - 4
carolina wren - 3
no. mockingbird - 6
eastern bluebird - 30 (several good-sized flocks)
am. robin - 20
carolina chickadee - 3
tufted titmouse - 2
white-breasted nuthatch - 1
blue jay - 15
am. crow - 4
fish crow - 2
eu. starling - 50
yellow-rumped warbler - 15
palm warbler (yellow) - 3
eastern towhee - 2
field sparrow - 8
vesper sparrow - 1
savannah sparrow - 50
song sparrow - 25
lincon's sparrow - 6
swamp sparrow - 10
white-crowned sparrow - 1
white-throated sparrow - 10
no. cardinal - 12
red-winged blackbird - 100
eastern meadowlark - 1
rusty blackbird - 1
common grackle - 15
brown-headed cowbird - 3
house finch - 6
am. goldfinch - 4
house sparrow - 6
Marc Ribaudo
Woodbridge, VA
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