Hi VA-Birders,
Four of us missed the memo about the Northern Virginia Bird Club walk being
cancelled this morning, and showed up at the park. So we walked around for a
few hours at Leesylvania and an hour or so at Julie Metz wetlands. The
weather wasn't THAT bad, but I can't remember ever having my objective
lenses splattered by snow blobs while looking up at warblers in the
treetops. The wind did pick up mid-morning and that put a damper on things
much more than the on-and-off flurries did!
Here's the best list I can remember from our wanderings . . . Highlights
were a great-looking common loon in the Potomac, ospreys and bald eagles all
around, a couple of singing yellow-throated warblers near the Leesylvania
visitor center, a Louisiana waterthrush singing as I drove into the park, a
brown creeper (nice spot by Bill), and an otter peering at us from the
Potomac (nice spot by John). It was good to get the springtime ears warmed
up with a warbler song or two. There was a distant raft of waterfowl in the
Potomac which we had a hard time with, of maybe 25 birds. I'm glad Bill has
a nicer scope than I do, because I would have had no chance with these guys.
Our best guess-mostly scoters, with a few similar-shaped, similar-sized,
white-bodied individuals mixed in. The woodpecker show in the area of the
park store, visitor center, and Potomac river was excellent. At Julie Metz,
we watched a crow and a harrier harass a red-tailed hawk and saw a few
terns.
If you want better IDs and more careful, accurate counts, you're gonna have
to start paying me!
Leesylvania:
Common loon 1
Cormorant 12
Great blue heron 5
Mallard 2
Ruddy duck 4
Unidentified diving ducks 30
Turkey vulture 2
Bald eagle 4
Osprey 10
Normal-looking gulls (ring-billed, I guess) 30
Bonaparte's gull 4 (nice to see a few of these)
Mourning dove 2
Flicker 4
Pileated woodpecker 2
Red-bellied woodpecker 2
Hairy woodpecker 3
Downy woodpecker 3
Unidentified swallow 15 (some were rough-winged, we think)
Blue jay 1
Crow 20 (didn't hear any fishy notes)
Carolina chickadee 6
Tufted titmouse 5
White-breasted nuthatch 2
Brown creeper 1
Carolina wren 5
Mockingbird 3
Robin 25
Blue-gray gnatcatcher 6
Golden-crowned kinglet 3
Ruby-crowned kinglet 2
Starling 15
Yellow-rumped warbler 1
Yellow-throated warbler 2
Lousiana waterthrush 1
Red-winged blackbird 8
Common grackle 10
Brown-headed cowbird 8
Cardinal 10
Goldfinch 10
Towhee 1
Dark-eyed junco 6
Chipping sparrow 6
White-throated sparrow 12
Species added at Julie Metz:
Caspian tern 1 (thanks to Nancy for the assist with color vision!)
Medium-sized terns 6 (Forster's?)
Canada goose 2
American black duck 6
Northern harrier 1
Red-tailed hawk 1
Red-shouldered hawk 1
Belted kingfisher 1
Field sparrow 1
Also, 4 more ospreys and 2 more bald eagles, and a couple more red-breasted
mergansers.
Peter Frechtel
Falls Church
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