[va_co_birding] Stafford County & City of Manassas

All,

Since it poured most of the day yesterday and I was unable to get out 
and bird, I decided at the last minute to head out this morning and work 
on my Stafford County list.  I headed for Aquia Landing hoping to find a 
Marsh Wren.  I had no luck there but I did find a bunch of other stuff 
along the roads in that area.  As a side note, you have to pay $6 to 
enter Aquia Landing (as an out of county resident) and they don't open 
until 10:00am.  I've been there before but I didn't remember that pesky 
little detail.  I passed and just drove the roads in the area.  Best 
birds in that area were many American Redstarts (I never knew they breed 
along the river!), a flock of seven Mute Swans flying by, a single 
Pied-billed Grebe, and a couple Prothonotary Warblers plus the usual 
stuff you would expect to find breeding along the river although I 
didn't hear any Yellow Warblers which surprised me a bit.

On the way home, I stopped off at the drainage ponds at Rt. 28/Rt.234 
bypass in Manassas to see if the Ring-necked Ducks were still there.  
They were indeed along with a Northern Rough-winged Swallow and two 
Killdeer.  I drove around on the south side of Rt. 28 and found a wooded 
backroad where I upped my Manassas list to 48.  Best bird was a hungry 
Barred Owl sitting on a snag about 10 ft off the ground and about 10 ft 
from the road.  It paid no attention to me even when I stopped and 
gawked through my binoculars for about 10 minutes.  Must have been one 
hungry bird.  I also spotted a soaring Cooper's Hawk.  Good day for 
Manassas!

Sue

-- 
Susan A. Heath
George Mason University
Environmental Science Department
Fairfax, VA

Secretary, Virginia Avian Records Committee
Keeper, Virginia Comp List at www.virginiabirding.org



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