VA BIRDers,
Ouch! These Chicago-like breezes tend to put a crimp in birding. Strong
north winds and below freezing temperatures met the few of us that made it to
the Sunday morning Dyke Marsh Field Trip, sponsored by the Friends of Dyke
Marsh and free to all.
The strong winds also a pushed the low tide much further out than usual,
which invited a good Bald Eagle showing with 13 counted. The usual
Pied-billed Grebes, Canada, Geese American Black Ducks and Mallards
(totalling many hundreds of birds) were joined by 7 Green-winged Teal and 6
Northern Pintail. The southern marsh held a bunch of Bufflehead and a few
Hooded Mergansers. And a couple of Double-crested Cormorants were spotted on
the river. We met with two nice surpises at the marina - a Common Loon in
the deep water and a Brown-headed Cowbird mixed in with the House Sparrows.
Oh, and Firestone, the Ring-necked Duck, seemed to be doing quite well.
Haul Road added a nice bunch of Cedar Waxwings and a few kinglets of both
kinds to the days journey. (Unfortunately, the Gray Catbirds and Winter
Wrens from earlier this week were silent.) The usual sparrows aligned the
trail - Song, Swamp and White-throats. At the end of the trail we spotted a
distant American Coot raft and spotted a single Yellow-rumped Warbler.
Kurt Gaskill
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