Spent the day Saturday in the Middle Peninsula
from Walkerton and the BFI landfill in King and
Queen County to The Pocket area in King William
County. Started out with beautiful weather which
became overcast around noon and then a few light
showers in the afternoon. Just after dark while
hooting unsuccessfully for owls, the clouds broke
up, the full moon came out, and the wind picked
up. Highlights were two Lesser Black-backed Gulls
and at least 21 eagles (14 imm and 7 ad) at the
landfill in K&Q, and many waterfowl on The Pocket
of the Pamunkey River in King William. The
Eurasian Wigeon that was at the Pocket last time
could not be found despite very careful scoping.
This was definitely too much ground to try to
cover in one day.
P=Pocket area (Pocket, boat ramp, roads, Elsing
Green , Old Town Farm)
LF= K&Q landfill
W=Walkerton
Pied-billed Grebe 6 @ P
DC Cormorant 4 @ P
Great Blue Heron: 3 @ P, 3 @ W, 3 other = 9
no egrets
black vulture roost of 201 birds @ P, 20 others
turkey vulture 20
Canada Goose 2300 P, 600 W, 200 other =~ 3100
Tundra Swan 3 P
Wood Duck 7 P
Gadwall 25 W, 17 P, = 42
American Wigeon 1 W, 8 P, = 9
Mallard 10 W, 150 P, = 160
Black Duck 42 P
Shoveler 7 male, 10 female at P, = 17
Green-winged Teal 120 P
Pintail 350 P
Canvasback 2 male, 3 female = 5 at P
Ring-necked Duck 191 P, 87 W, = 278
Greater Scaup 2 male 4 female = 6 at P
Bufflehead 20 male and 45 female = 65 at P
Hooded Merganser P 2M and 4F, W 1 M and 3 F = 10
Ruddy Duck P 18 M and 59 F, W 7, = 84
Bald Eagle: BFI landfill supervisor has seen 33
here at one time. I saw 21 today. P had 2 ad and
2 imm, W had 2 adult. Tot = 11 ad, 16 imm = 27.
The BFI man said that the dump in Gloucester area
sometimes has over 100 eagles. Can somebody in
that area check it out?
Harrier 2
Cooper's Hawk 1
Sharp-shinned Hawk 1
Red-shouldered Hawk 4
Red-tailed Hawk 4
Kestrel 3
Turkey 1
186 American Coot @ P
Killdeer 5
Snipe 16 P
no other shorebirds
landfill had LOTS of gulls. The following
estimates were difficult because of poor access
and repeated flushing by eagles, trucks and stray
dogs but probably something like 1500 laughing
gulls, 1500 ring-billed gulls, 1000 herring
gulls, and 20 great black-backed gulls. Looked
carefully for rare gulls like California, but
found only 2 adult lesser black-backed gulls.
6 rock pigeon
190 mourning doves
no owls
5 belted kingfisher
woodpeckers: 1 red-headed, 9 red-bellied, 12
flicker, 2 downy, 1 hairy, 1 pileated, 4
yellow-bellied sapsucker
7 phoebe
6 blue jay
15 fish crows at the landfill
30 american and 30 unidentifed crow
2 horned lark
2 american pipit
no swallows
1 chickadee, 3 titmice, 1 gc kinglet (didn't
spend much time in woods)
9 carolina wren
~40 bluebirds
1 hermit thrush
45 robin
5 mockingbird
1 thrasher
1 yellow-rumped warbler
~100 starling
1 field sparrow
9 chipping sparrow
~20 song sparrow
8 swamp sparrow
~ 55 white-throated sparrow
~ 75 junco
1 fox sparrow
2 purple finch
30 goldfinch
5 house sparrow
something like 80-100 thousand blackbirds about
50% grackle, 40% redwing, 10% cowbird, feeding on
waste corn, bathing in puddles, and eating grit
on the roadside (mostly cowbirds doing the
latter). Huge swarms flying around with
thousands in a flock. Saw no yellow-headeds,
brewers, or rusties in the ones I scoped out.
Still looking for people to help me in the
Walkerton Christmas Bird Count which includes
much of this area...
All the best
Happy Thanksgiving
Fred
=====
Frederick D. Atwood fredatwood@xxxxxxxxx
Flint Hill School, 10409 Academic Dr, Oakton, VA 22124
703-242-1675
http://www.agpix.com/fredatwood
http://www.flinthill.org
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