VA Birders,
Pat Blyer and I planned to go out to Blandy Farm today (Thursday, Feb.
3), but when we woke up to the surprise forecast of "Snow Showers" this
morning,
we decided to stick closer to home. We started by checking Roaches Run in
Arlington, and then we birded Belle Haven Picnic Area to Riverside Park in
Fairfax Co. Our route turned out to be a good plan for a dreary day.
At Roaches Run, we found about 7 Pied-billed Grebes, 12 Great Blue
Herons, 18 Hooded Mergansers, some Mallards, and our 3 basic gulls
(Ring-billed,
Herring, & Great Black-backed). We quickly noticed that many of the gulls
seemed
to be flying up from the big pond carrying something black in their bills.
Then we realized that they were getting some kind of shellfish (perhaps
Mussels?) from the water as we watched them drop their catch on the ice to
crack the
shells and then eat the contents. There must have been a very good supply of
this food, and I am wondering if the mergansers might eat shellfish too?
From Roaches Run, we drove down the George Washington Pkwy. to Belle
Haven Picnic Area, where we saw at least 12-20 Common Mergansers as soon as we
walked over to the water, along with 6 or 8 Bufflehead and lots of Canada
Geese.
Then we went to Belle Haven Marina, where we found 3-4 Red-breasted
Mergansers close in, and what appeared to be many more further out in the
Potomac
River. Continuing south on the parkway, we stopped at the small pull-off south
of
Dyke Marsh, where we found 12-20 Am. Black Ducks and more Mallards. By time
we reached Riverside Park, just north of Mt. Vernon, it looked more like a
blizzard than a mere snow shower, but fortunately, the ducks we saw there were
close to shore so we didn't need the scope. After spotting a few Lesser Scaup
and Buffleheads, we saw a group of about 10 ducks swimming toward us. When
they
came out in the open after passing behind some bushes, we realized to our
surprise that they were Redheads--about half males and half females. Even
looking thru the snowflakes, we had great views of these lovely ducks.
Finally, as
we turned to go back to our car, we realized that what we had thought were
chunks of ice lying on the frozen edge of the water were actually about a dozen
Tundra Swans! Some were walking on the ice and most of the others had their
heads up rather than tucked in as they were when we first spotted them.
On the way back, I stopped briefly at Gravelly Point, Arlington, on the
river side of the parkway across from Washington National Airport. The lawn
areas were literally littered with Canada Geese--at least 200 of them. I also
found an Am. Kestrel perched on some light structures and 3 Am. Coots up on the
lawn there.
Good birding,
Val Kitchens
Arlington, VA
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