VA BIRDers,
I started from the north picnic area of Dyke Marsh about 0815 walking to the
Stone Bridge and back. Highlight was a drab hatch year female Pine Warbler
very loosely associating with Yellow-rumped Warblers about 100-200 yards
north of the picnic area. Notable was the Yellow-rumped count on this
segment - 35 in about an hour. Also noted were the ducks mentioned by Gerry
Hawkins (the Bufflehead group for me numbered 65) plus 3 Great Egrets,
Red-shouldered and Red-tailed Hawks, both kinglets and 4 Rusty Blackbirds.
My next visit was Jackson Abbott Refuge. Highlights were 4 Wood Ducks, more
buteos, YB Sapsucker, Gray Catbird (from the parking lot, take the trail and
just before you get to the small lake there is a pond to your right where it
called), Brown Thrasher (mixed in with White-throated Sparrows and others
along marsh nearly opposite the street called Herb Garden Ct). Other
waterfowl were Gadwall, Mallard, Green-winged Teal and Hooded Merganser.
I stopped at Pohick NVRPark to view Pohick Bay - the Red-headed WP is still
near the east end of the parking lot along the river and that completed the
typical woodpeckers for me. Not too many waterfowl: Gadwall, Ring-necked
Duck, Lesser Scaup, Bufflehead, and Pied-billed Grebe. Plus about 850
American Coot.
At an overlook for the Great Marsh of Mason Neck I made approximate
waterfowl tallies (the tide was high so difficult to see completely into the
marsh):
C. Goose 60
Tundra Swan 220
Gadwall 20
Am. Wigeon 4
Am. Black Duck 150
Mallard 20
No. Pintail 2
Canvasback 20
Redhead 2
Ring-necked Duck 15
Lesser Scaup 250
Bufflehead 5
Hooded Merganser 2
Ruddy Duck 300
Pied-billed Grebe 12
My last stop was Occoquan Marina. As Marc Ribaudo already noted, not too
many ducks. I managed to find a single Common Goldeneye. And there was a
distant raft of about 1000 Gadwall (perhaps with other things mixed in?).
Yet, there were good numbers of gulls scattered about and I spied a Lesser
Black-backed Gull very near to the Mason Neck side of the bay.
Waterfowl misses for the day? Greater Scaup, the big mergansers and Horned
Grebe. (Blue-winged Teal is very rare this time of year.)
Kurt Gaskill
