Kurt Gaskill, Alexandra Munters, Alex Lamoreau, and I covered the Alexandria
sector of the DC Christmas Bird Count today. The route covers the area between
the Belle Haven picnic area and the Stone Bridge, Jones Point, Daingerfield
Island, and various stops along the Alexandria waterfront. This has always
been a birdy area, and expectations were high as a number of rarities had been
reported in this area over the past week. We more than met those expectations
with 81 species tallied, including several great birds. These included:
pine warbler at the north end of the picnic area
Baltimore oriole along the bike path (looks like 1st year male)
orange-crowned warblers on both sides of parkway
rusty blackbirds on west side of parkway
blue-gray gnatcatcher at stone bridge
snow goose at stone bridge
2 peregrine falcons on Wilson bridge, seen from Jones Point
brown thrasher at Daingerfield island
osprey (with fish) at Daingerfield island
dunlin on mudflats at stone bridge
laughing gull at stone bridge
merlin on west side of parkway, near stone bridge
Simply, a marvelous day!
Marc Ribaudo
moribaudo@xxxxxxxxxxx
