To paraphrase the original Klingon, it was a good day to bird. For those of
you who can't stand suspense, Bart Hutchinson and I combined got an even buck
and a quarter in Fairfax County on Saturday, with two more species out of
bounds for 127. As is the case with any such effort, there are surprises and
major victories, as well as agonizing misses. This year, the best surprise
was an excellent variety of ducks, almost all originally spotted by Bart, who
shall from hence forth carry the honorable title of the Duck Man (Sir Duck
Man, High Lord Duck Man, The Master of Ducks, and The Duckmeister were all
rejected for the simpler, more elegant, and less pretentious Duck Man); other
victories included Wilson's warbler; a pheasant; dunlin; and big flock of
bobolinks. Misses: the thrushes killed us -- only wood. We also missed a
number of pretty doable warblers (particularly redstart, but also magnolia,
blackpoll, and chat). An account and an accounting follow.
We began at just after 2:30 a.m. at Huntley. The hoped for rail didn't
materialize, but Bart saw an owl fly overhead an land on a snag. My
handy-dandy 500,000 candle-power light illuminated a great horned owl, our
first bird of the day (amazingly not Canada goose, mockerbird, or some such).
We also heard a distant barred owl. The next stop was Pohick Bay Regional
Park where 5 minutes of whistling finally rated a response by a screech owl
across the bay at Fort Belvoir (luckily there was no wind, and the sound
carried superbly). The next night stop was Bull Run Post Office Rd.,
starting at about 4:45. At the "short-eared" field we immediately heard
about 3 whips and a woodcock; a little later we heard a pair of barred owls
and a distant great horned. It was already getting light as we left, but we
stopped at a big field on the right on the way out, and struck gold with
singing grasshopper sparrow. We then headed for Sue Heath's townhouse a few
minutes away, but dipped on siskins at her feeder. Still, we were feeling
good, have gotten 28 species before 6 a.m.
We got to Great Falls at about 6:30, where we met Jim Mathews and Philip
Kline. It was still really cold, and the falls were wreathed in a photogenic
mist. No nighthawks, however. We did get an early bonus of a Nashville
warbler in the picnic grounds. A couple of hours produced some nice birds:
several Baltimore orioles, LA H2Othrushes, and worm-eating warblers, single B&
W, chestnut-sided, and palm warblers, a fly-by sharpie, and a distant,
singing RB grosbeak. We took the slight detour of the Swamp Trail in hopes
of a Canada warbler. Just when we were about to give up, I thought I heard
the telltale jumbled song in the distance, but it wasn't coming from low down
in the swamp. We finally tracked it down, and sure enough, it was a Canada
singing in the top of the canopy almost up by the entrance road. A short
walk at the north end of the park towards Riverbend yielded nothing new
except a prothonotary, a singing blue-headed vireo, and a spotted sandpiper
on a log that had fallen into the Potomac, leading to a spirited debate,
luckily made moot by later sightings, as to whether the bird was in MD or VA.
The big story of Great Falls was the heterogeneity of the thrushes: nothing
but wood. Ouch! And we dipped on Kentucky warbler, as well as our hopes for
any of the other difficult warblers.
We decided to spend some time at Riverbend, hoping to remedy this. The area
around the Nature Center quickly yielded a gorgeous singing hooded warbler,
but little else. At the Visitor's Center we dipped on yellow-throated
warbler, but picked up warbling vireo and orchard oriole. But by this time
(past 11) we were running significantly behind schedule (albeit with a respect
able 81 species), and we reluctantly skipped Lake Accotink to go straight to
Hunting Creek. And a good thing we did, as we had about 15 minutes there
before the rising tide obliterated the mudflats in Fairfax County (the ones
in Alexandria last much longer). But in that time we picked up a single
distant female bufflehead (thanks, Duck Man), osprey, Caspian and Forster's
terns, both yellowlegs, spotted, solitary, least, and pectoral sandpiper, not
to mention 6 dunlin and a black-bellied plover on the Alexandria side. Icing
on the cake was a singing yellow warbler heard across the creek on the golf
course.
We made a strategic decision to bag Dyke Marsh and go straight down to
Accotink. At the Archery Range the Duck Man delivered single blue-wing teal
and wigeon. We also added northern rough-wing and bank swallow, bald eagle,
and a distant flying kingfisher. Note that bank swallows seem to be nesting
in the earthen cliff on Mason Neck opposite the fishing pier about a
half-mile east of the Archery Range. We then parked at the Refuge lot and
walked toward the McCarty Farm Trail. On the way, we finally got white-eyed
vireo. In fact, we got three, just before the suspension bridge. They
appeared to be playing tag back and forth across the path. While watching
them, we became aware of another song in the same pile of shrubs, a very
intermittant, short, quiet trill. Eventually, we looked at each other
questioningly, and said, "Wilson's?" The habitat was perfect. We waited
impatiently on either side of the tangle, and after several minutes, out he
popped, posing for a few seconds in the open, and then he was gone.
In the big field, we easily added prairie warbler, and, after too much
searching dug up a single, silent swamp sparrow, a singing blue grosbeak, and
several pine warblers. The walk back gave us our only redtail of the day
(phew!), and a green heron. Off to Mason Neck, thirteen hours after our last
visit. We stopped at the intersection of Gunston and Harley to see if a
meadowlark was singing. I pretty clearly heard one, but there was a distant
racket that was bothering me. As precious seconds ticked away, I puzzled,
wondering if it could be bobolinks. I had just convinced myself that since a
single bobolink sounds kind of like a small flock of blackbirds, it was
probably just a flock of blackbirds. This was confirmed when a flock of
blackbirds exited the woods, and flew across the field, I was headed toward
the car, when Bart asked me to take a closer look. Yup, 30+ bobolinks now
perched in trees in the middle of the field.
The drive to the state park failed to provide any missing thrushes (darn),
but at Belmont Bay the Duck Man not only came up with small flocks of scaup
and ruddies, which we expected, but also a male canvasback and bufflehead.
Our nearest calling cuckoo of the day provided a nice accompaniment. We
spent a little time watching birds flying over the Bay, adding a martin for
our troubles. Perhaps if we had been a little less tired, we would taken a
closer look at the distant terns flying around, as we have it on good
authority that they were Bonaparte's "terns." Oops. Maybe next year.
At this point we had another hard decision. It was 5 o'clock, and starting
to rain, although the forecast suggested that any rain would be light and
short-lived. We decided to bag Lorton, having already gotten its three key
birds, grasshopper sparrow, bobolink, and meadowlark. We were giving up our
best remaining chance for chat (we had to beat them away last year all day
long!) and kestral, as well as possible harrier, pipit, and savannah sparrow.
But we decided to go with Firestone, marsh wren and coot, and hit Dyke. It
began to pour on the ride up (during which time we were amazed to discover we
already had 121 species), so we started in the car at the marina, where we
quickly netted Firestone (who looks marvelous, I might add). Scoping north
yielded immature herring and black-backs. The walk out the haul road in
intermittant rain yielded three separate coots, and a nice little flock of 5
lesser scaup, but no marsh wren.
On to the finish line at Huntley, hoping for hooded merg, a miracle heron, or
nighthawk. It was raining steadily through most of our time there. After
bumping into Kurt under the tower, we tromped back the informal trail, and
were rewarded at a glimpse of Mrs. Hoodie and her fuzzballs. With the rain
continuing, our bodies aching, and our minds beginning to wander, we tried to
throw in the towel at about 8:10. As we were returning on the boardwalk,
groups of yellowlegs flocked and took off. Then we we given a final gift, a
close fly-by by a beautiful, fat snipe.
Key: A = Accotink, B = Bull Run PO Rd., D = Dyke Marsh, G = Great Falls, H =
Huntley, M = Mason Neck, R= Riverbend, S = Stone Bridge (Hunting Creek)
DC cormorant (M - 100s, smaller number elsewhere)
GB heron
great egret (S -1, H -1)
green heron (A -1, H- several)
Canada goose
wood duck (A, H)
mallard
blue-wing teal (A -1)
wigeon (A - 1)
canvasback (M - 1)
ring-necked duck (D - 1 (Firestone))
lesser scaup (M - 20+, D - 5)
bufflehead (S -1, M -1)
hooded merg (H - 1 adult)
ruddy duck (M - 20+)
black vulture
turkey vulture
osprey
bald eagle (A)
sharpie (G -1)
red-shouldered
red-tailed (A -1)
ring-necked pheasant (B - 1 (origin unknown))
coot (D - 3)
black-bellied plover (S - 1 (Alexandria))
killdeer (B -1, A -1)
greater yellowlegs (S, A, H)
lesser yellowlegs (S, H)
solitary sandpiper (S, H)
spotted (R, S, A, H - probably over 20, total)
least (S)
pectoral (S - 1)
dunlin (S - 6, Alexandria, some in full breeding plumage)
woodcock (B -1)
snipe (H -1)
ring-billed gull
herring (D -1)
great black-backed (D -1)
Caspian tern (S, D)
Forster's tern (S)
rock dove
mourning dove
yellow-billed cuckoo (G, R, M - 1 each)
screech owl (M - 1 (calling from A))
barred owl (H - 1, M - 1, B - 2, A - 1)
great horned (H - 1, B - 1)
whip (B - 3)
swift
hummer (G - 1, R - 1)
kingfisher (A -1)
red-bellied woodpecker
downy
hairy (G - 1)
flicker
pilieated (G - 1, A - 1)
Acadian flycatcher (G - 1)
phoebe
great crested flycatcher
kingbird (A)
purple martin (M)
tree swallow
northern RW (R, A)
bank (A)
barn
blue jay
American crow
fish crow
chickadee
titmouse
white-breasted nuthatch
Carolina wren
house wren
RC kinglet (at least 10)
gnatcatcher
bluebird
wood thrush
robin
catbird
mocker
thrasher (several)
waxwing (G, M - first I've seen since the CBCs!!?!?!?!??)
starling
white-eyed vireo (A - 3, one subsequently)
blue-headed (G - 1)
red-eyed
warbling (R - 1)
Nashville warbler (G - 1)
parula
yellow (S, A)
chestnut-sided (G - 1)
black-throated blue
yellow-rumped (scores)
black-throated green
pine (A)
prairie (A)
palm (G - 1)
B&W (G - 1)
prothonotary (R -1, A - several)
worm-eating (G - several)
ovenbird
LA H2O (G, R)
yellowthroat
hooded (R - 1)
Wilson's (A - 1)
Canada (G - 1)
scarlet tanager
cardinal
RB grosbeak (G - 1)
blue grosbeak (A - 1)
indigo bunting (numerous)
towhee (numerous - we missed towhee two years ago!)
chipping sparrow (A)
field (B, A)
grasshopper (B)
song
swamp (A - 1)
white-throated (still numerous)
bobolink (M - 30+)
red-winged BB
meadowlark (M - 1)
common grackle
cowbird
orchard oriole (R -1, A - several)
Baltimore oriole (G, R, elsewhere)
house finch
goldfinch
house sparrow
Ben Jesup
You are subscribed to VA-BIRD. To post to this mailing list, simply send email
to va-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx. To unsubscribe, send email to
va-bird-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with 'unsubscribe' in the Subject field.
