VA BIRDers, (funny that dial-up works but the internet does not!)
Marc Ribaudo, Larry Meade, Carl Kikuchi and myself did the Alexandria
Waterfront route for the DC CBC (Dyke Marsh Sector) Saturday. Highlight was
the
Dickcissel, as reported by Larry who took many fine photos. It appeared to me
to
be a HY male or an adult female - I tend to think HY male given the weak
rufous wing patch on the tertials, the weak maler stripe and the weakly colored
supercillium. Of course the photos will probably lay to rest this discussion!
We found the Dickcissel very close to the fenced-in tree save area (signed)
at the NW end of the soccer field, next to the new Wilson Bridge construction.
There was some weedy, seedy long grass stems in this area that the bird fed
upon.
We found the bird whilst pishing up a few sparrows after this Winter Wren
made a brief appearance near the water's edge. I was pishing and heard this
whine near my shoulder. I thought and said "Catbird" but a moment later picked
up
a more clearly nasal wheeze - it pointed to Blue-gray Gnatcatcher. Marc
heard it too, and looked and quickly found the caller. I glanced over and we
both
exclaimed, "there's two Blue-grays!" simultaneously. (Marc had found an
earlier Blue-gray along GW Parkway). Then, a house sparrow-like bird flew out
of
the vines and made a wide arc for the grassy area. I followed it and focused
on the little fellow as Marc joined me. We soon got a clear look and both
nearly simultaneously exclaimed, "Dickcissel". A fine bird for the count and
Larry Cartwright's inaugural year as compiler. I don't know if its a first for
the count, but certainly the species has not been observed previously on this
count in the last 20 yrs or so!
No other big highlights on the route. We did find Great Egret, 60+ DC
Cormorants, 12 Boneparte's Gulls, 60 Laughing Gulls and 3 Turkey Vultures - the
latter new for the route! We tallied 61 species or so, average for this route
(N=6). Waterfowl numbers are still clearly depressed - a continuation from
2002.
No falcons this year, but several Cooper's Hawks including two adults. Lower
than average counts this year (besides the waterfowl) were Ring-billed Gulls
(we tallied ca. 2400, off about 1000), American Robins, Cedar Waxwings (one!),
and House Finch. Crows have gone up from last year - but are still 2 orders
of magnitude shy of previous numbers! Perhaps Fairfax County has stopped the
killings? We also tallied an Eastern Bluebird, unusual for this route and
perhaps an indicator that this species is bouncing back from its last 3
disasterous years.
Kurt Gaskill
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