I visited these three sites from mid-morning through early afternoon on
January 23rd. Weather was sunny and bright. The small ponds at Occoquan were
frozen over. I hiked down Fox Road to the overlook then drove the Wildlife
Loop. On Occoquan Bay there were large numbers of Lesser Scaup with a vast
predominance of males.
At Leesylvania, again the predominant species was Lesser Scaup and again a
vast excess of males. At one point they all spooked, due to three Bald Eagles
(2 adults, one immature) flying in from across the river.
Julie Metz was very wet underfoot and I didn't spend long there; highlight
was a Winter Wren.
Species lists submitted to eBird:
Location: Occoquan Bay NWR
Canada Goose 20
Lesser Scaup 200 Vast excess of males
Black Vulture 5
Turkey Vulture 5
Downy Woodpecker 1
Northern Flicker 3
American Crow X
Fish Crow 1
Tufted Titmouse 1
Carolina Wren 2
Northern Mockingbird 1
Song Sparrow 2
Swamp Sparrow 1
Northern Cardinal 3
Location: Leesylvania State Park
Canada Goose 30
Mallard 2
Lesser Scaup 300 Vast excess of males
Bufflehead 2
Bald Eagle 3
Red-bellied Woodpecker 1
American Crow X
Carolina Chickadee 2
White-breasted Nuthatch 2
Carolina Wren 1
Eastern Bluebird 10
Northern Mockingbird 1
White-throated Sparrow 10
Dark-eyed Junco 10
Northern Cardinal 1
Location: Julie Metz Wetlands
American Crow X
Winter Wren 1
Song Sparrow 1
Red-winged Blackbird 50
This report was generated automatically by eBird v2 (http://www.ebird.org)
Wendy Ealding
Powhatan County
