VA BIRDers,
Marc Ribaudo, David Buckley, Rich Rieger, Sandy Farkas and I got together
for a little bit of birding before the holidays divert us to the important
festivities with families and friends. We started at Julie Metz and then
visited the Prince William County landfill. The latter was not very lively
- no new garbage arriving seemed to be the problem as only the 4 typical
gulls were noted; Laughing Gulls numbered about 50 and numbers of the other
gulls were much lower than in previous reports.
Julie Metz and Neabsco Creek were far more interesting - we spotted a group
of 11 female Wood Ducks, by far the largest late December assemblage we have
observed. Nearby were about a dozen Green-winged Teal. We noted Cooper's,
Red-shouldered and Red-tailed Hawks during our 2 hour visit. Our visit
focused upon the west portion of Metz which at least one Eastern Towhee, 3
Field Sparrows, at least one Fox Sparrow, 30 Song Sparrows, 50
White-throated Sparrows and about 16 Juncos. Also notable were 7 Winter
Wren (one broke out into song) and 3 Rusty Blackbirds Just after lunch I
visited the marina near the end of the road and found ca. 240 Laughing Gulls
on the docks - one of the largest late December groups I have observed in
No. Virginia.
The Julie Metz and Featherstone NWR area are two very important habitats in
the Fort Belvoir CBC circle, 31 Dec, which currently needs 1 or 2 birders
interested in waterfowl, raptors, and passerines including sparrows. Drop
me a line if you have interest in helping out, even for half a day. There
are also other areas in the circle with a fine mix of habitat types (Mason
Neck NWR and SP for example) that also need help, too. Thank you!
Kurt Gaskill
