VA Birders,
Yesterday (Thursday) morning, I took my friend Paula, who was visiting
from California, birding at Occoquan Bay NWR in Prince William Co. The
highlight of our walk at the refuge occurred shortly after we started walking
the
trail from the parking lot to the water. I saw a brown spot--which I didn't
really thing was anything--in the grass/straw on the edge of the right side of
the
road. When we stopped and checked it out with our binoculars, we discovered
to our amazement that it was Mama AM. WOODCOCK with a chick! The chick quickly
disappeared into the grass, but mama stayed there in full view for several
minutes, until we decided we finally had to go on. We had wonderful views of
her from all angles, and we were especially intrigued by her undulating walking
style. Altho I had seen woodcocks in daylight before, I didn't recall
noticing how high up on the head this birds eyes are. Paula had previously
only seen
a woodcock briefly in a display flight, so this was virtually a Life Sighting
for her. When we started walking forward, the woodcock turned around and
walked into the taller straw/grass behind her. The chick reappeared and
followed
her, giving us a chance to see that its bill was already perhaps twice as
long as it was, and that it had some markings on its head like the picture in
my
book on bird nests, eggs, and nestlings, even tho we guessed that this chick
wasn't more than a few days old. One final note: Paula and I met at Occoquan
at 9:00 am and found the woodcocks about 9:30 am. We only passed one other
birder before we found these birds, and noone else came by while we were
watching them--perhaps they were enjoying the sunny morning just as we were!
We also saw a single PURPLE MARTIN, 2 BARN SWALLOWS, and a singing FIELD
SPARROW, in addition to lots of TREE SWALLOWS, several EASTERN BLUEBIRDS, and
a singing EASTERN TOWHEE at Occoquan.
From Occoquan, we went to Leesylvania State Park, which is just a few
miles down Rt. 1, also in Prince William Co., in late morning. Our best birds
there were many more PURPLE MARTINS at the park's martin houses, a single
YELLOW-THROATED WARBLER (which I think was a female), a CHIMNEY SWIFT, and
several
CASPIAN TERNS. We also lots of OSPREYS and BALD EAGLES at both locations.
Val Kitchens
Arlington, VA
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