Hello VA-Birders,
An interesting challenge that a few of us have done in the past is to see how
many species we can find in a given area by Noon. Today I decided to do this
modified Big (Half) Day completely within the borders of Prince William County.
I was at my starting location at 12:00 AM and finished at 12:00 PM. I did
this mostly as an attempt to add new species to my county life list, and to
keep it interesting by giving myself a challenge.
I calculated that my potential maximum species count for a day in late August
in the area is approximately 125-130, assuming a lot of luck. After 12 hours
of birding today, I had found 106 species, and found 2 additional by 12:30 as I
left my final location for a morning total of 108 species. Not bad for August,
and by contrast, in one early May day a few of us had found 135 species in the
county (of 139 total for all areas) during an all-day run.
Top birds of the day for the area (by date or rarity) include: LESSER SCAUP,
LITTLE BLUE HERON, KING RAIL (Nokesville), VIRGINIA RAIL, WESTERN SANDPIPER,
ROYAL TERNS, LEAST TERN, PHILADELPHIA VIREO, RED-BREASTED NUTHATCH (the
invasion continues!!), and CANADA WARBLER. See details below.
Biggest misses include Wild Turkey, Northern Bobwhite, Bald Eagle, Black
Vulture, Cooper's Hawk, Least Sandpiper, Belted Kingfisher, Warbling Vireo,
Waterthrushes, and perhaps Bobolink. Adding these to the total, it seems quite
possible to achieve nearly 120 fairly easily in the county in a day.
I started at midnight in Woodbridge looking for Nighthawks under the various
shopping center lights without success. My first bird came after about 45
minutes, which was an EASTERN SCREECH OWL at the entrance to Leesylvania SP.
Throughout the morning I would go on to find 4 owls species, 2 rails, and a
Caprimulgid, including another SCREECH at Possum Point, BARRED OWLS at Possum,
Nokesville, and Manassas Battlefield, a BARN OWL vocally cruising the fields at
Nokesville, and (finally) a GREAT HORNED at Manassas Battlefield. I was very
surprised to hear a close-in VIRGINIA RAIL in the marsh near the entrance to
Leesylvania SP, and most surprising of all, a bellowing KING RAIL coming from
Cedar Run Wetlands (from the road) in Nokesville.
By 4 AM, I was at Manassas Battlefield where I remained for over 3 hours at
various locations. I still needed COMMON NIGHTHAWK, so I took a stab at the
Regal Cinemas lights near the battlefield and I-66, which after about 20
minutes produced a single bird dipping down for a meal before continuing on. I
planned to be in place at NY Monuments for sun-up to catch any migrant wave.
The birds that appeared were excellent, showing good diversity with the
exception of the warblers, of which there were only a couple of species. Best
birds during thist time were the PHILLY VIREO, RED-BREASTED NUTHATCH (which I
called in by imitating the calls with my voice), LEAST FLYCATCHER, an early
VEERY (night flight call), BLUE-WINGED WARBLER, and TENNESSEE WARBLER.
The next stop was Buckland to look for the Mississippi Kites, but I could find
none. Consolation prizes include the day's only BANK SWALLOW flying overhead,
and AMERICAN KESTREL.
On to the sod fields in Bristow, and again the only shorebirds here were
KILLDEER, but a nice bonus to the day were the 15 HORNED LARKS flitting around
the recently turned earth.
Skipping Nokesville by daylight due to time, I went directly to Possum Point
where I added many new birds for the day, including BROAD-WINGED HAWK (perched
for close views), 2 LEAST TERNS foraging over Quantico Creek with a few
Forster's Terns, CANADA WARBLER, BLUE GROSBEAK, LESSER SCAUP, a calling WILLOW
FLYCATCHER, and a plethora of shorebirds. In fact, all shorebirds seen today
with the exception of the additional Killdeer from Bristow were found at the
ash pond of Possum Point, so please see the list below. The best ones were
WILSON'S SNIPE, a brightly-plumaged WESTERN SANDPIPER, SEMI PLOVER, and
PECTORAL SANDPIPER.
By now it was about 10:15 and I wrapped up the day by visiting Leesylvania SP,
where I added 6 ROYAL TERNS to the list, and other places such as Veteran's
Park and Belmont Bay which helped fill in gaps. The last 30 minutes was at
Occoquan Bay NWR where I was able to find some missing Larids, LITTLE BLUE
HERON in the Easy Road marsh, and (after noon) a calling EASTERN MEADOWLARK
along the entrance road as I left.
It was an enjoyable morning and successful in that I was able to add 4 county
birds to my list. As always, I learned a few things about the area and it was
nice to see much of the county in a single 12-hour period!
Please see the complete list below and let me know if there are questions.
Take Care,
Jay Keller,
Arlington
Canada Goose
Wood Duck
American Black Duck
Mallard
Lesser Scaup
Double-crested Cormorant
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Little Blue Heron
Green Heron
Turkey Vulture
Osprey
Red-shouldered Hawk
Broad-winged Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
American Kestrel
King Rail
Virginia Rail
Semipalmated Plover
Killdeer
Greater Yellowlegs
Lesser Yellowlegs
Semipalmated Sandpiper
Western Sandpiper
Pectoral Sandpiper
Wilson's Snipe
Laughing Gull
Ring-billed Gull
Herring Gull
Great Black-backed Gull
Caspian Tern
Royal Tern
Forster's Tern
Least Tern
Rock Pigeon
Mourning Dove
Yellow-billed Cuckoo
Barn Owl
Eastern Screech-Owl
Great Horned Owl
Barred Owl
Common Nighthawk
Chimney Swift
Ruby-throated Hummingbird
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Downy Woodpecker
Hairy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Pileated Woodpecker
Eastern Wood-Pewee
Acadian Flycatcher
Willow Flycatcher
Least Flycatcher
Eastern Phoebe
Great Crested Flycatcher
Eastern Kingbird
White-eyed Vireo
Yellow-throated Vireo
Philadelphia Vireo
Red-eyed Vireo
Blue Jay
American Crow
Fish Crow
Horned Lark
Purple Martin
Tree Swallow
Northern Rough-winged Swallow
Bank Swallow
Barn Swallow
Carolina Chickadee
Tufted Titmouse
Red-breasted Nuthatch
White-breasted Nuthatch
Carolina Wren
House Wren
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
Eastern Bluebird
Veery
Wood Thrush
American Robin
Gray Catbird
Northern Mockingbird
Brown Thrasher
European Starling
Cedar Waxwing
Blue-winged Warbler
Tennessee Warbler
Yellow Warbler
American Redstart
Common Yellowthroat
Canada Warbler
Yellow-breasted Chat
Eastern Towhee
Chipping Sparrow
Field Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Northern Cardinal
Blue Grosbeak
Indigo Bunting
Red-winged Blackbird
Eastern Meadowlark
Common Grackle
Brown-headed Cowbird
Orchard Oriole
Baltimore Oriole
House Finch
American Goldfinch
House Sparrow
