VA BIRDers,
I think the cold, wet weather of the last few weeks finally sent several of
us over the edge! With the first break in the weather, Laura Catterton,
Linda Millington, Rich Rieger, Paula Sullivan, and I set out to do a Big Day
of birding in Northern Virginia. We hoped to find many new arrivals and late
departing species. Well, we were half-right. Not too many new arrivals, but
we did find several lingering species that are not too easy to find in
mid-April. The day's top bird was likely the Sora, spotted by the keen eyes
of Rich at Huntley Meadows just after sunset. We tallied 102 species -one
more if you let us count the Mute Swans on Rt 50 near Upperville.
Other great finds of the day were Red-necked Grebe at Beaverdam Reservoir,
Green Herons at Manassas Battlefield and Banshee-Reeks Park (The Woods Rd),
Tundra Swan at Dyke Marsh, American Wigeon at Beaverdam, and Northern
Shovelers at North Forks Wetlands. A significant movement of Boneparte's
Gulls on the piedmont was noted and Lesser Black-backed Gulls were spotted at
the Hunting Creek mudflats area. Also noted were many Red-headed Woodpeckers
at Sky Meadows SP, Winter Wren at Possum Point Rd, a late-ish Golden-crowned
Kinglet at Leeslyvania SP, Cedar Waxwings at Huntley Meadows, and Northern
Parula, Black & White Warblers and Common Yellowthroats at Possum Pt Rd and
Julie Metz Wetlands.
As with all Big Days we started out with an elaborate plan - which quickly
got thrown out the window! I believe we were more interested in having a
good time (and listening to Finnish folk songs) then sticking to schedules
and so we missed a few locations that could have netted us some more species.
For that reason, the biggest miss of the day was Ruddy Duck - a hundred or
so of them were likely on Belmont Bay. Other big misses were Whip-poor-will,
Common Raven and White-breasted Nuthatch. I suspect the former just is not
up here in big numbers, notwithstanding the single singer from a week ago.
As for the latter two, well...um, "dems the breaks".
We started out at Marine Base Quantico before dawn finding the big owls and
several calling Wild Turkeys. As the sun broke the limb, we sped to Possum
Point Rd and netted our first ducks of the day on Quantico Creek including
Wood Duck, Lesser Scaup, and Hooded and Red-breasted Merganser. Land birding
netted a few warblers, kinglets and gnatcatchers as well as the usual
Yellow-throated Warblers. We moved onto Leeslyvania SP and picked up a few
more species, including the pleasant surprise of the Golden-crowned Kinglet
(plus more Yellow-throated Warblers). Julie Metz Wetlands yielded up
American Black Ducks, Pileated Woodpecker and Swamp Sparrows. We headed
north with a drive-thru at Veteran's Park for a Great Egret. Then, we
traveled up to Dyke Marsh. In the marina we fortunately ran into
world-famous sailor Chip Johnson who told us (unbidden) of a large white swan
on the river - and so, the Tundra Swan was tallied. At the mudflats we
spotted a Pied-billed Grebe and the second of the Lesser Black-backed Gulls
in the area. At this point (noon), Laura parted company due to home-based
priorities.
We sped west to the piedmont and dropped in at the Manassas Battlefield to
find the Green Heron. Then out and west bound again, stopping at North Fork
Wetlands (access courtesy of the BSA). Here the desired ducks and shorebirds
were still present from the day before and were accompanied by a Northern
Harrier, many Caspian Terns and 40 or so Boneparte's Gulls! After enjoying
the great birds and scenery, we moved northward, stopping at Beaverdam
Reservoir. Here, one of the invading Red-necked Grebes was found, along with
even more Boneparte's than at North Fork! Also present were Common Loon and
Common Mergansers. We hurried over to Dulles Wetlands, stopping for a road
crossing Green Heron outside the east gate of Banshee-Reeks. The wetlands
brought forth our only Cooper's Hawk of the day and a Great Egret stood in
the middle of wetlands.
We then drove west to Sky Meadows SP which provided several incredible views
of about 10 different Red-headed Woodpeckers. But, the sand in our hour
glass had nearly run out and we needed to travel back east to our final
destination. En-route, we stopped at Roaches Run in Arlington and spotted a
couple of Black-crowned Night-Herons. Then, southward we trekked to Huntley
Meadows, where we ended the day. Here, we tallied our only Hairy Woodpecker
and the marsh gave up the aforementioned Sora. As dusk turned to dark, we
spotted our last species of the day - a flock of two dozen Cedar Waxwings
that hurriedly flew across the pond.
Kurt Gaskill
For those having interest, below are rough totals of the species we
encountered on the route.
Common Loon 4
Pied-billed Grebe 2
Red-necked Grebe 1
DC Cormorant 231
Great Blue Heron 49
Great Egret 2
Green Heron 2
Black-crowned Night-Heron 2
Black Vulture 12
Turkey Vulture 30
Canada Goose 70
Tundra Swan 1
(Mute Swan 2)
Wood Duck 10
Gadwall 16
Am. Wigeon 1
Am. Black Duck 4
Mallard 20
Blue-winged Teal 8
No. Shoveler 4
Green-winged Teal 34
Ring-necked Duck 5
Lesser Scaup 2
Bufflehead 2
Hooded Merganser 10
Common Merganser 20
Red-breasted Merganser 2
Osprey 23 (a few over the piedmont)
Bald Eagle 4
No. Harrier 1
Cooper's Hawk 1
Red-shouldered Hawk 2
Red-tailed Hawk 15
Am. Kestrel 4
Wild Turkey 4
Sora 1
Am. Coot 12
Killdeer 3
Greater Yellowlegs 7
Lesser Yellowlegs 4
Common Snipe 3
Boneparte's Gull 96
Ring-billed Gull 167
Herring Gull 20
Lesser Black-backed Gull 2
Greater Black-backed Gull 31
Caspian Tern 74
Forster's Tern 5
Rock Dove 81
Mourning Dove 11
Great Horned Owl 4
Barred Owl 2
Belted Kingfisher 5
Red-headed WP 10
Red-bellied WP 7
Downy WP 7
Hairy WP 1
No. Flicker 9
Pileated WP 1
E. Phoebe 3
Blue Jay 14
Am. Crow 14
Fish Crow 3
Purple Martin 2
Tree Swallow 121
No. Rough-winged Swallow 1
Barn Swallow 8
C. Chickadee 15
T. Timouse 8
C. Wren 2
W. Wren 1
GC Kinglet 1
RC Kinglet 7
BG Gnatcatcher 19
E. Bluebird 11
Am. Robin 12
No. Mockingbird 5
Brown Thrasher 4
E. Starling 25
Cedar Waxwing 24
No. Parula 1
Yellow-rumped Warbler 6
Yellow-throated Warbler 11
Pine Warbler 4
Black & White Warbler 3
LA Waterthrush 3
Com. Yellowthroat 2
E. Towhee 6
Chipping Sparrow 10
Field Sparrow 5
Savannah Sparrow 7
Song Sparrow 10
Swamp Sparrow 10
White-throated Sparrow 9
DE Junco 14
No. Cardinal 55
Red-winged Blackbird 58
E. Meadowlark 7
Common Grackle 60
Brown-headed Cowbird 35
House Finch 8
Am. Goldfinch 35
House Sparrow 10
And the last numbers are: 15.5, 6, and 26
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