Yes, after 9 tries, a success! Bev Leeuwenburg joined me today to do some
birding. As soon as we got to Neabsco Creek (Prince William County) at about
8:00AM, Bev says "there's a bird that looks different out there". And there
wasn't much to choose from. Perhaps only 90 gulls were present in this little
group.
After some searching, I found an adult gull intermediate in size between the
Ringers and Herrings also present. The bird had a darker mantle than either of
these two species. The gull was relatively clean around the head, with light
streaking or spotting confined to the nape. The iris was dark. The bill was
larger than a ringers, with the characteristic narrow black ring and red spot.
The legs and feet were yellow, or perhaps greenish-yellow to be more correct.
VERY VERY NICE!
We then went to Leesylvania where Bev tallied 37 Bald Eagles. Nine Common
Goldeneye drakes were displaying to a single hen, throwing their heads back
with great abandon. The female was totally underwhelmed with all this
attention, preferring just to be left alone. We also noticed about 1000 scaup.
Bev counted at least 3 Greater Scaup and I found one, with the ID based on the
wing pattern as the birds took to flight.
Then an afternoon trip to Dyke Marsh for the Orange-crowned Warbler. No
warbler, but we had an interesting time with the ducks as we walked up to
Hunting Creek. We found 52 Northern Pintails, 1 Pied-billed Grebe at Hunting
Creek, 24 Green-winged Teal, 20 Gadwall, a lone N. Shoveler found by Bev, and 2
Killdeer. The highlight at Dyke was watching a female Cooper's almost nail one
of the Killdeer. A quick trip down to the marina gave us 19 Redheads and Bev
found another Greater Scaup as some members of a flock of maybe 1500 birds took
to flight.
All in all, good birds, good company, and good fun. I'll not forget this day
for a long time.
Larry Cartwright
acartwright@xxxxxxxxx
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