[va-bird] wonderful day in northern neck saturday 2/26/05

What a wonderful day to be alive!  The weather
was great!  There was still snow sparkling on the
trees and in the fields and marshes, and skim ice
on puddles and marsh pools.  Then it warmed  into
the frog-friendly upper 40's.  And there were
lots of birds around.  Here are the highlights.  
1. Clay-colored Sparrow: watched for 5 minutes on
Jones Creek Rd near Newland (Richmond Co)(between
#414 and #536 Jones Creek Rd).  Great views of
this cooperative bird showing all the field
marks.  In a mixed flock of field, junco, song,
white-throat, and chipping sparrows. (Chippies
were my first of the spring season in this
county.)
2. Orange-crowned Warbler: again cooperative
enough to give great close views for a couple
minutes. On Naylor's Beach Rd near Warsaw on the
left in a shrubby thicket next to young pines
(about 5 years old) about 100 yards before you
get to the wooded property corner of the Tayloe
Tract of RRVNWR if you are coming from route 624.
3. The thing that made me stop to look at the
sparrow flock on Jones Creek Road was an American
crow flying off with a struggling male cardinal
in his beak!  I have never seen a crow eating a
live bird before.  I did not see if he caught a
healthy cardinal or if this was one that had been
injured by a car, but it was alive for a while
after he caught it.  I tried getting photos, but
with the crow standing on a snowy field against
the sun, the images could be useless.
4. Five King Rails calling at dusk near and in
Drake's Marsh, Leedstown (Westmoreland Co). 
These are my first for the region even though I
have been in this same spot on other evenings
through the fall and winter.  I wonder if they
are migrating north, or if they were there all
along but the balmy weather and lengthening hours
of daylight made them burst into song.  
5. 11 red-throated loons, 2 horned grebes, 4
long-tailed ducks and 150 surf scoters were among
the birds seen out on the Potomac from Muse Rd
(end of route 624 in Westmoreland County) at
about 3PM along with great views of buffleheads,
close enough to see their iridescence.
6. Surprisingly few birds at 4 PM at Washington's
Birthplace (no swans or geese! less than 100
scaup. no ruddies.) But Drake's Marsh and a
neighboring farm managed for wildlife (Leedstown)
were full of waterfowl.  As the sun set, it
tinged the 180 tundra swans pink. (Unfortunately,
fading light and a screen of bushes made it
difficult to photograph, but the sight, and
especially the wild sound of the honking swans
made my heart go pitter-pat.  I wish I had gotten
there early enough to hide and get settled with a
better view.)  Other birds present at this
soothing, inspiring, and exciting scene were
approximately 400 canada geese, 125 mallards, 40
gadwalls, 5 american wigeons, 75 green-winged
teals, 12 wood ducks, the king rails, a killdeer,
a great horned owl, and 2 barred owls,  all
adding their voices to the chorus of wood frogs,
chorus frogs, and spring peepers.  Also present
were 25 shovelers, 15 pintails and a snipe.  A
raccoon walked by.  And as I walked out in the
fading light 2 woodcocks were peenting,
wing-whistling, and chippering as Orion began to
brighten in the moonless sky. 
7. Bald eagles galore!  At Jones Creek Landing
overlooking the Rappahannock River I saw 15
immatures, 11 single adults (not with a mate) and
2 pairs sitting together. Along Strangeway Road I
saw one adult land on some thatch in a field,
pull up clumps of it with both sets of massive
talons, and fly off with it.  Total for the day
in Upper Richmond and Westmoreland Counties, was
29 immature, 32 adult, nothing like the totals
seen on the river-survey, but still more than I
have seen here in one day.

All the best, Fred

Here are the totals for the day:
All in Richmond Co and Westmoreland County

horned grebe 3
red-throated loon 11
double-crested cormorant ~45
~180 tundra swans
~800 Canada Geese
~80 gadwall (about 2:1 male to female)
5 american wigeon
~135 mallard
~15 pintail
`25 shoveler
~75 green-winged teal
16 wood duck
~250 ring-billed gulls
~10 herring gulls
6 great-black-backed gulls
8 great blue heron
17 killdeer
1 wilson's snipe
2 woodcock (1 one in King George flew across
route 3 at dawn)
1 turkey heard gobbling
1 sharp-shinned hawk
2 harrier
2 kestrel
2 red-shouldered hawk
10 red-tailed hawk
61 bald eagles
12 black vulture
~25 turkey vlture
4 barred owl
1 great horned owl
~45 mourning dove
3 belted kingfisher
woodpeckers: 1 pileated, 1 red-headed, 3
sapsucker, 6 flicker, 3 downy, 1 hairy, 7
red-bellied
1 phoebe
2 horned larks
~60 american pipits 
~50 american crow
2 blue jay
3 carolina chickadee
5 tufted titmouse
7 carolina wren
1 ruby-crowned kinglet
5 brown thrasher
7 mockingbird
~250 robins on fields
~40 bluebirds
1 hermit thrush
~65 yellow-rumped warblers
1 orange-crowned warbler
~ 750 red-winged blackbirds
heard flock of rusty blackbirds in swampy woods
~ 150 grackles
10 meadowlark
~ 200 starlings
sparrows: ~60 junco, ~130 song, ~65 savannah ,
~50 swamp, ~80 white-throated, 7 white-crowned (2
adult), ~15 chipping, 1 clay-clored, 5 field, ~55
cardinal
~25 goldfinch






=====
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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