Kim Peacock, Ruth Anne Eddins, and I participated in the Fairfax Audubon
Society Waterfowl Survey today. We were responsible for the area
between Neabsco Creek and Quantico Creek in Prince William County. We
started at the Dominion powerplant near Quanitco Creek (escorted by
Dominion environmental compliance coordinator Jeff Marcell), and covered
Quantico Creek, Cherry Hill peninsula, Powell's Creek, Leesylvania SP,
Neabsco Creek, and Lake Montclair (a dammed up portion of Powell's
Creek). After overcoming early moning fog at the powerplant (due to 12
degree temps and large cooling towers going at full bore), an army of
duck hunters, and frozen waters, we had a nice day and saw some good
birds. Variety was not what I had hoped, but the iced-up creeks seem to
have forced the birds I saw last week to move on.
Highlights were a concentration of 77 hooded mergansers in Quantico
Creek, four tundra swans dozing on the ice amongst a large flock of
Canadas, a peregrine falcon at the power plant, and a red headed
woodpecker on Possum Point Rd. Our tally sheet for the count is
presented below.
One oddity. While Powell's Creek and Quantico Creek were largely
frozen, Lake Montclair was completely free of ice.
pied-billed grebe - 3 (Lake Montclair)
double-crested cormorant - 73
Canada goose - 590
tundra swan - 8
wood duck - 2 (Quantico creek)
black duck - 222
mallard - 166
northern pintail - 4 (Quantico creek)
green-winged teal - 12 (Neabsco creek)
ring-necked duck - 1 (Lake Montclair)
lesser scaup - 842
bufflehead - 4 (Leesylvania SP)
common merganser - 61 (Leesylvania SP)
ruddy duck - 85
bald eagle - 14
peregrine falcon - 1
Marc Ribaudo
Woodbridge, VA
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