VABIRDers and MdBirders,
We dodged a bullet. A weather bullet. This is not to say count day was a
walk in the park, but it did not meet the expectations of nearly constant
afternoon rain that was predicted. Instead, the morning was tough with
passing squalls of showers (and downpours in some circle locations) but the
rain ended by late morning and the afternoon had many shedding wet gloves
and opening up coats as the weather warmed with virtually no wind. Based
upon the vast majority of reports I have received, we tallied 107 species,
the lowest since Dec 29, 2002 and I am sure the morning weather played a
role.
Top highlight was the Sedge Wren, present since early December at Occ. Bay
NWR (and probably still there now) - rare anytime of the year in Northern
Virginia and possibly unprecedented in January.
Also in the rare category (tallied 5 or less times in the last 20 years for
the count) were Virginia Rail (5 out of 20), with one report at Huntley and
another at Occ. Bay NWR. The Northern Saw-whet Owl (3 out of 20) at
Leesylvania SP was completely unexpected given this is not supposed to a be
a good NSWO season. And Common Raven (5 out of 20) heard flying overhead
near Hampton and Thompson Rds and which is becoming more expected in just
the last 7 years.
In the hard-to-find-and-maybe-not-present-every-year category was Peregrine
Falcon (7 out of 20) both at Ft Belvoir and the Great Marsh of Mason Neck.
And Lesser Black-backed Gull (10 out of 20) in the bay off Mason Neck VC.
In the really uncommon category we had a wonderful Horned Grebe (12) showing
- over 8 tallied - perhaps signaling an excellent breeding year, Great Egret
(11) on Little Hunting Creek, Merlin (14) at Ft Belvoir, King Rail (14) at
Occ. Bay NWR, House Wrens (13) with 2 at Occ. Bay NWR, American Pipit (13)
various locations near shorelines, and Chipping Sparrows (15) various
locations.
Popular species seen nearly every year were Wood Duck in huge numbers (67)
at Jackson Abbott Refuge, over 17,000 scaup were tallied, Common Goldeneyes,
Wild Turkeys, Common Loon in the Potomac off Mason Neck, Greater Yellowlegs
at Mason Neck Great Marsh, American Woodcock displaying at Occ. Bay NWR,
Red-headed WP various places, Red-breasted Nuthatch found at Ft Belvoir and
Gunston (and this is not a year for these little sprites), Brown Thrasher,
American Tree Sparrows, esp. at Occ. Bay NWR, and Purple Finch singing in
the back areas of Mason Neck. We also had Snow Goose as count week.
Biggest miss was Wilson's Snipe and Eastern Meadowlark, breaking a 20+ year
streak for both. Also missed were Bonaparte's Gull and Gray Catbird, each
are 19 out of 20 year species.
I am grateful for all the volunteers who came out to count Sunday - thank
you! Special thank you to the Sector and Group Leaders who organized
various locations. And lastly, a big Thank You to Cheryl who puts up with
all this craziness each year and prepared a wonderful repast for the tally
rally.
OK, that's all for now.
Kurt Gaskill
Ft Belvoir compiler and clean up tech.
