Started birding the day pretty late (1100am) at Occoquan Bay. The south side
was very windy and cold, but it paid off going there. I found a Canvasback
in a group of scaups and the swampy area near the bird banding place was
very productive (Wood duck, Hooded Merganser Bald Eagle, and Killdeer). On
my way Dyke Marsh I stopped at Riverside Park. I was very impressed with the
number of waterfowl present. I had not seen large groups of ducks and
mergansers in a while. The mixed duck group right in front of the parking
lot was fun the scan. Mostly Wigeons, Gadwalls and Lesser Scaup with the
occasional Bufflehead. Great to see all these birds together. After
Riverside Park it was time to visit Dyke Marsh. Overall it was very quiet
but the sparrows were rather interesting. I saw one Song Sparrow with lots
of white on its face and a nearly pink bill?! Guess this is a partial
albino. Fun to watch.
Highlights of today's trip.
1 - Occoquan Bay
Horned Grebe 1
Canvasback 1 - male in group of 200+ Lesser Scaup at south side of the NWR
Wood Duck 2
Common Goldeneye - 2 females
Hooded Merganser 1
Northern Harrier 2 - male and female at the parking lot around mid afternoon
Killdeer 1
Brown Creeper 2
Golden-crowned Kinglets 2
Swamp Sparrow 1
2 - Riverside Park
100s of Common Mergansers
Gadwalls
American Wigeons
100s American Coots
3 - Dyke Marsh
Red-breasted Mergansers 2
Ruby-crowned Kinglet 1
Swamp Sparrow 3
Gerco
Vienna, 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.
