Not only was it a spectacularly beautiful, crisp
day on the Northern Neck but there were also some
great birds. Highlights were my first Virginia
Eared Grebe and Ross Goose (though the Grebe was
actually in Maryland waters), 2 short-eared owls,
a vesper sparrow, and gobs of other waterfowl.
I started scoping out the ponds along route 3 in
King George County around 7:00 AM. Then I
visited a few spots near Newland along the
Rappahannock in Richmond County, and crossed back
over to the Potomac side of route 3 to Currioman
Landing near Montross), Muse Rd (end of route 624
between Westmoreland State Park and Washington's
Birthplace, and then finished the day watching
the sun and crescent moon set while honking gesse
and quacking ducks flew into the Rappahannock in
Leedstown and short-eared owls circled over great
horned owls at the nearby Mothershead tract of
Rappahanock River Valley NWR (Westmoreland Co.).
Here are my totals, with explanatory notes
interspersed. GWBP is George Washington's
Birthplace. KG is King George. RR is Rappahannock
River areas, CL is Currioman Landing,
9 Red-throated Loon: Muse Rd
7 Common Loon: Currioman (calling), Muse Rd, GWBP
2 Pied-billed Grebe KG
3 Horned Grebe: Muse Rd, GWBP
1 EARED GREBE This bird stuck out like a sore
thumb. The thing that immediately caught my
attention was the distinctive head shape. Then I
saw the dark auriculars and the slender mostly
dark neck, much less white than the nearby horned
grebe whose head shape was totally different
(HOGR was tufted in back not in front). The bird
was too far away to see the color of the beak
tip. First he was hanging out near a group of
scoters but then drifted south towards
Westmoreland State Park.
11 double-crested cormorant: Muse Rd, GWBP, KG
14 Great Blue Heron 4 KG, 4 RR, 2 CL, 4 GWBP
~15 Turkey Vulture
~25 Black Vulture
3 Snow Goose 1 white KG, 2 blue GWBP
1 ROSS GOOSE At the Aggregate Industries pond.
If you go looking for this remember that this
gravel company has big trucks and they don't like
people to get in the way or to visit without
permission. There is a number on the sign that
you can call. On Sunday I was able to watch from
the closed gate at leisure. This bird was very
pudgy looking all around. It had a stubby,
triangular, straight-backed beak with no grin
patch, very round, rounder-than-snow-goose head,
thick neck that was also visibly thick in flight,
and it was way smaller than the Canada Geese it
was with, almost as small as a Mallard, though it
looked bigger in flight. It rested in the pond,
flew across the road to feed in the field and
then disappeared back over beyond the pond. It
traveled with a small group of Canada Geese.
There was also a snow goose here. I did NOT see
any blue-gray at the base of its pink bill and am
wondering if this perhaps might be a hybrid Ross
X Lesser Snow, though the beak shape and head
shape looked entirely Ross.
~6400 Canada Goose 1600 KG, 900 RR, 3900 GWBP
7 Mute Swan 5 CL, 2 GWBP
32 Tundra Swan KG, also heard flying over at RR
none at GWBP yet, which is my favorite place to
watch them in late afternoon.
~50 Gadwall 40 KG, 10 GWBP
~27 American Wigeon 25 KG, 2 GWBP
2 Black Duck KG
~95 Mallard 75 RR, 10 GWBP, 10 KG
1 Canvasback female, KG
~2100 Ring-necked Duck KG 2100, 3 SIngerly pond,
10 GWBP
40 Scaup GWBP, mostly Greater but a few Lesser
5-10 Lesser Scaup 5 KG, GWBP
3 Surf SCOTER Muse Rd
24 Black Scoter
2 LONG-TAILED Duck GWBP
~110 Bufflehead 8 KG, Singerly pond 3, Muse Rd
30, GWBP 70
~25 Common Goldeneye: Muse Rd 1, GWBP ~25
40 Hooded Merganser KG 12, SIngerly Pond 28
~1225 Ruddy Duck KG 208, Singerly pond 2, RR 7,
CL 880, Muse 2, GWBP 130
7 Bald Eagle 4 adult, 3 immature
5 Northern Harrier
3 Red-shouldered Hawk
2 Red-tailed Hawk
3 American Kestrel
60 American Coot KG
~600 Laughing Gull, mostly KG
~50 Ring-billed Gull, mostly GWBP and Muse
~10 Herring Gull
1 Great Black-backed Gull: Muse Rd
9 Forster's Tern: 5 Muse Rd, 4 GWBP, 0 in RR
~15 Rock Pigeon
~35 Mourning Dove
3 Great Horned Owl singing in two Leedstown locs
2 SHORT_EARED OWL flying and calling over a pair
of hooting Great Horned Owls at Mothershead Tract
of RRVNWR in Leedstown. Then they starting
looking for food in the field.
3 Belted Kingfisher
~6 Red-bellied Woodpecker
3 Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
~15 Flicker
1 Eastern phoebe
~10 Blue Jay
~120 American Crow (and ~40 Crow sp)
~15 Horned Lark KG 5, Bole 10
2 Carolina Chickadee
5 Tufted Titmouse
4 Carolina Wren
1 Golden-crowned Kinglet
42 Eastern Bluebird along roads while driving
5 Hermit Thrush: RRVNWR (Peters 3, Mothershead 2)
~ 60 American Robin
~ 15 Mockingbird
1 Brown Thrasher (Mothershead)
~75 Starling
~45 American Pipit 5 KG,40 Boyle Farm Richmond
Co)
~10 Cedar Waxwing (Leedstown)
3 Yellow-rumped warbler
~15 Field Sparrow
1 VESPER Sparrow (Boyle farm, Jones Creek Rd)
4 Savannah Sparrow
~45 Song Sparrow
5 Swamp Sparrow
~45 White-throated Sparrow
3 White-crowned Sparrow
~85 Dark-eyed Junco
~20 Cardinal
~350 Red-winged Blackbird
7 Meadowlark
~50 Rusty Blackbird Muse Rd
~150 Common Grackle
2 Purple FInch
5 House FInch
3 Pine SISKIN
6 Goldfinch
10 House Sparrow
=====
Frederick D. Atwood fredatwood@xxxxxxxxx
Flint Hill School, 10409 Academic Dr, Oakton, VA 22124
703-242-1675
http://www.agpix.com/fredatwood
http://www.flinthill.org
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