Greetings,
My husband and I did a little birding in Northern Virginia before enjoying
some dinner at Maggiano's in Tysons. We pulled over on the shoulder on Rt. 7 a
little before the Purcellville exit to check out a body of water on the right.
Beside a few Canadian Geese, there were 2 Red-necked grebes. One was in near
summer plumage. I have seen several now along the Shenandoah, but all have
been in winter garb. This one clearly had the reddish color on the neck and
the light cheeks. It was a treat to be able to see one close to breeding
plumage. Along RT. 7, we saw some kestrels and red tails and a kettle of 12
turkey vultures. Our next stop was the Dulles Greenway Wetland Mitigation
Project, of which I have heard so much, but never been there. What a great
place! I definitely needed my scope since much of the water area is a good
distance from the road, but there is also a lot of brush area up close and many
small birds such as the yellow-rumps came very close to check us out. The
following is what we saw there.
Green-winged teals- 5 (2 males 3 females)
Buffleheads 3
Mallards 2
Canadian Geese- 50
Ring-billed gulls- 5
Sharp-shinned hawk-1
Red-tailed hawks -3
Northern flicker- 1
Crows -2
Turkey vulture- 2
Mockingbird 1
Bluebirds -2
Cardinals- 2
Yellow-rumped warbler -2
Titmice- 1
Dark-eyed Juncos-8
American tree sparrow 1
Field sparrow- 1
Song sparrow-1
I will look forward to going back to this wonderful area whenever I can.
Happy birding,
Carol Del-Colle
Summit Point,WV
Jefferson County
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