VA BIRDers,
Monday morning at Mason Neck began with a resounding Crack! That is, of many
duck gunners firing as soon as they could. Fortunately they were relatively
far from my posting at Mason Neck NWR near the rookery on Occoquan Bay. My
nocturnal migrant counts from ca. 0620 to 0700 were:
Swainsons Thrush 22
Gray-cheeked Thrush 7
Wood Thrush 2
Hermit Thrush 1
Bobolink 1
At 7AM I began daytime birding for another census of birds at Mason Neck. What
a difference from last week! Instead of wide variety of neotropical migrants
vying for the observers attention, most of the warblers were down to a just one
or a few representatives of a species except for Yellow-rumped Warblers which
totaled 55 birds after nearly 6 hours of birding. Yet, large majority of
intermediate distance migrants had arrived in good numbers. Ignoring the many
Red-winged Blackbirds, top migrant was Blue Jay with 80 tallied. The typical
winter sparrows of Song, Swamp and White-throated were well-represented and
Dark-eyed Junco arrived. Of interest was a single Eastern Meadowlark, marking
the migratory arrival of this species along the Potomac. All the typical
dabblers were noted, most were mainly off the Great Marsh. Ruddy Duck numbers
on Belmont Bay have increased and the Lesser Scaup are still present. The main
miss for the day was Osprey (I probably spent too much time in the
forest/marshes). A total of 85 species were recorded, the list is below.
Kurt Gaskill
C. Goose 98
Wood Duck 16
Gadwall 24
American Wigeon 6
Am. Black Duck 8
Mallard 12
Blue-winged Teal 6
Northern Shoveler 14
Green-winged Teal 33
Lesser Scaup 6
Ruddy Duck 74
DC Cormorant 47
Great Blue Heron 2
Great Egret 2
Turkey Vulture 1
Bald Eagle 8
Northern Harrier 1
Sharpie 1
Red-shouldered Hawk 3
Red-tailed Hawk 1
American Coot 17
L. Gull 92
Ring-billed Gull 49
Herring Gull 1
Caspian Tern 1
Forsters Tern 10
Mourning Dove 5
Chimney Swift 35
Belted Kingfisher 5
Red-headed WP 1
Red-bellied WP 21
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker 7
Downy WP 10
Hairy WP 2
Northern Flicker 28
Pileated WP 7
E. Wood Pewee 1
E. Phoebe 15
Blue Jay 80
American Crow 21
Fish Crow 5
Northern Rough-winged Swallow 1
C. Chickadee 26
T. Titmouse 28
White-breasted Nuthatch 15
Brown Creeper 7
C. Wren 21
H. Wren 3
W. Wren 1
GC Kinglet 9
RC Kinglet 10
E. Bluebird 15
Gray-cheeked Thrush 9
Swainsons Thrush 12
Hermit Thrush 4
American Robin 6
Gray Catbird 4
No. Mocker 1
Brown Thrasher 1
E. Starling 2
Cedar Waxwing 6
Northern Parula 3
Black-throated Blue 3
Yellow-rumped 55
Palm 10
Bay-breasted 1
Blackpoll 1
Common Yellowthroat 16
Scarlet Tanager 2
E. Towhee 5
Song Sp 15
Swamp Sp 15
White-throated Sp 28
DE Junco 4
Northern Cardinal 16
Rose-breasted Grosbeak 2
Indigo Bunting 5
Bobolink 1
Red-winged BB 103
E. Meadowlark 1
Common Grackle 60
Brown-headed Cowbird 2
House Finch 5
Am. Goldfinch 13
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