VA BIRDers,
Kim Peakcock, Jack Carroll, Andy Rabin, Sandy Farkas and I did the regular
Sunday morning Field Trip at a cold and frozen Dyke Marsh today. Temperatures
were near 20F at the beginning and were - being a bit generous now - near 21F
at the end. Whee-eeuuu! Yet, the day was intersting as it taught us how birds
hunker down on these cold days and seldom pop up or call. I suppose the most
unusual species was a Double-crested Cormorant flying UP the river - yes, going
north for reasons that are completely beyond me. By the way, the river was not
completely frozen, but the open area was reduced by about half with the balance
taken by ice floes, frozen sheets, and piles of solid water.
Fortunately, Hunting Creek rarely freezes under our weather conditions and so
there was a fine waterfowl concentration up there. From the picnic area we
could make out hordes of Canada Geese and Mallards. Later, we would find that
it was much better!
We checked the open water near the marina and noted a couple dozen of Common
Mergansers, a handful of Ruddy Ducks and a few flyby Hooded Mergansers. Off
the island more mergs could be seen with a couple of Bufflehead nearby. Haul
Road was fairly quiet, but we did manage to find a Winter Wren and a couple of
Swamp Sparrows. Also a pair of Pileated Woodpeckers that were making quite a
racket!
After returning to our cars, Sandy and I went up to the Stone Bridge over
Hunting Creek, running into the ever intrepid Dan Kluza. Resting near the
shoreline were hundreds of Mallards with a two Canvasbacks and Am. Wigeons
mixed in. Several Gadwall and No. Pintails were about, more Hooded Mergansers
were noted, and a Wood Duck pair off the Golf Course was pointed out to us by
Dan. I also flushed a Sharpie from (the little remaining) vegetation on the
northside of the creek, causing a Killdeer to go bonkers for a few minutes.
Later, I heard from Larry Cartwright that Tundra Swan flocks were noted during
their Great Horned Owl search.
Following are the final totals noted during today's discovery.
Kurt Gaskill
Pied-billed Grebe 1
DC Cormorant 1
Great Blue Heron 2
Canada Goose 500
Tundra Swan 13
Wood Duck 2
Gadwall 9
Am. Wigeon 2
Am. Black Duck 45
Mallard 300
No. Pintail 12
Green-winged Teal 2
Canvasback 2
Bufflehead 2
Hooded Merganser 14
Common Merganser 30
Ruddy Duck 6
Bald Eagle 3
Sharp-shinned Hawk 1
Am. Coot 1
Killdeer 1
Ring-billed Gull 200
Herring Gull 10
Great Black-backed Gull 10
Rock Dove 2
Belted Kingfisher 3
Red-bellied WP 1
Downy WP 1
Pileated WP 2
Am. Crow 2
C. Chickadee 4
Winter Wren 1
E. Starling 7
Song Sp. 12
Swamp Sp. 2
White-thr Sp 4
No. Cardinal 15
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