VA BIRDers,
A hardy group of 10 birders met at Julie Metz Wetlands for the Fairfax
Audubon Swallows and Osprey Field Trip. The strong breeze notwithstanding,
we were rewarded with great views of various Osprey and noted a couple
hundred Tree Swallows. Mixed in with the Tree Swallows were Northern
Rough-winged and Barn Swallows. Other highlights of the trip were Bald Eagle
flight displays, Lesser Yellowlegs, many Common Snipe, Boneparte's Gulls, E.
Phoebe, Pine Warbler, Fox Sparrows, Rusty Blackbirds and a couple of fat
roosters. The list follows:
DC Cormorant 5
Great Blue Heron 15
Turkey Vulture 12
C. Goose 36
Wood Duck 10
Am Black Duck 40
Mallard 30
Green-winged Teal 150
scaup sp. 500
Bufflehead 4
Hooded Merganser 5
merganser sp. 25
Osprey 14
Bald Eagle 11
Sharp-shinned Hawk 1
Coopers Hawk 1
Red-tailed Hawk 3
Killdeer 3
Greater Yellowlegs 8
Lesser Yellowlegs 1
Common Snipe 50 (minimum, perhaps as many as 80)
Boneparte's Gull 15
Ring-billed Gull 2000
Herring Gull 300
Great Black-backed Gull 6
Mourning Dove 20
Belted Kingfisher 2
Red-bellied Woodpecker 2
Downy Woodpecker 3
No. Flicker 6
Pileated Woodpecker 1
E. Phoebe 1
Blue Jay 2
Am. Crow 20
Fish Crow 30
Tree Swallow 200
No. Rough-winged Swallow 3
Barn Swallow 1
C. Chickadee 3
T. Titmouse 6
White-breasted Nuthatch 1
C. Wren 6
GC Kinglet 1
RC Kinglet 2 (singing)
E. Bluebird 12
Am Robin 24
No. Mockingbird 4
E. Starling 8
Cedar Waxwing 3
Pine Warbler 1
E. Towhee 2
Field Sp 6 (2 singing, nice looks during song)
Fox Sp 12 (one nice group along the trail at Metz)
Song Sp 25
Swamp Sp 1
White-thr Sp 15
Junco 4
No. Cardinal 10
Red-winged Blackbird 100
Rusty Blackbird 10
Com. Grackle 15
Brown-headed Cowbird 2
House Finch 4
Am Goldfinch 4
House Sparrow 6
fat rooster 2
After the Field Trip, a few of us went to Mason Neck and noted the following
on or above Belmont Bay:
Horned Grebe 5 (transitional plumage)
DC Cormorant 32
Gadwall 6
Canvasback 6
Lesser Scaup 125
Bufflehead 4
Common Merganser 20
Red-breasted Merganser 36
Ruddy Duck 1000
Osprey 7
Bald Eagle 1
we also heard a bunch of Rusty Blackbirds nearby.
On the way home, I stopped at Jackson Abbott Refuge and noted a male No.
Shoveler hanging out with some Mallards; the air over the pond held about a
dozen Tree Swallows. There were a couple of Wood Ducks and a Hooded
Merganser, too. I continued on to Dyke Marsh and spotted 5 Horned Grebes
(one looked nearly complete alternate) and 3 Greater Scaup out on the river
across from the picnic area. A single Barn Swallow was mixed in with a
couple dozen Tree Swallows flying over the river.
Kurt Gaskill
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