VA BIRDers,
Freed from the onslaught of meetings and travel, I got out of the house, albeit
a bit late this morn, and visited a few old haunts. I drove to the Mason Neck
peninsula in Fairfax Co, taking the Old Colechester shortcut which netted
several migrating Fox Sparrows, a couple of towhees, an overflying Osprey, and
an E. Phoebe couple setting up house under the bridge.
My first stop was Mason Neck SP overlooking Belmont Bay. The drive into the
park netted E. Phoebe and Pine Warbler. The bay had a few waterfowl, to wit:
DC Cormorant 5
Great Blue Heron 30, lots of comings and goings in the direction of the rookery
C. Goose 30
Tundra Swan 5
Wood Duck 1
Gadwall 2
Green-winged Teal 1
Canvasback 1
Ring-necked Duck 5
Greater Scaup 5
Lesser Scaup 1500
Bufflehead 2
Hooded Merganser 2
Common Merganser 20 (the peak is a month behind us)
Red-breated Merganser 360 (hello peak!)
Ruddy Duck 6
Osprey 5
Tree Swallow 3
plus woodpeckers, another phoebe pair under the visitor center eaves, etc., and
a singing Brown-headed Cowbird in the forest.
Next stop was the Great Marsh of Mason Neck which was OK bird-wise:
C. Goose 2
Am. Black Duck 15
Mallard 5
Green-winged Teal 30
Com. Merganser 1
Greater Yellowlegs 3
plus a YB Sapsucker, noisy Hairy WPs, a couple of Brown Creepers, and a Hermit
Thrush along the trail.
I then dropped by Pohick Park (Fairfax Co) to scan the bay and adjacent
Accotink Bay and only noted a few birds of interest:
Am. Black Duck 50
Mallard 80
Ring-necked Duck 4
Lesser Scaup 20
Bufflehead 4
Com. Merganser 10
RB Merganser 2
Osprey 5
Bald Eagle 1
Tree Swallow 2
I drove down to Neabsco Cr (Pr Wm Co) and saw the following of interest:
Am. Black Duck 30
Mallard 12
Green-winged Teal 80
Osprey 4
Bald Eagle 2
Cooper's Hawk 1, adult, hunting a Red-winged Blackbird
Wilson's Snipe 1
Tree Swallow 15
A visit to Quantico Cr (Pr Wm Co) was a bit more eventful:
DC Cormorant 20
Tundra Swan 24
Wood Duck 6
Am. Black Duck 30
Mallard 20
No. Pintail 22
Green-winged Teal 6
Ring-necked Duck 70
Hooded Merganser 6
Com. Merganser 1
Osprey 2
Bald Eagle 3
Wilson's Snipe 6
and another singing Pine Warbler in a back yard.
I headed out to the Prince William Co dump on Rt 234, a fascinating place.
Bald Eagle 3, 2 adults and one 1/2 summer
Red-shouldered Hawk 1
Red-tailed Hawk 2
Ring-billed Gull ca. 400
Herring Gull ca. 250
Iceland Gull 1, first summer
Glaucous Gull 1, 1/2 summer
Great Black-backed Gull 1
Am. Crow 5
Fish Crow 25
E. Starling 1000
After doing a quick errand, I continued onto Burke Lake (Fairfax Co) finding
Pied-billed Grebe 5
Horned Grebe 2, incl one nearly into breeding plumage
Mallard 5
Lesser Scaup 20
Bufflehead 5
Red-breasted Merganser 3
Ruddy Duck 8
And before returning home, I stopped by the mudflats of Hunting Creek (Dyke
Marsh) and noted:
Laughing Gull 1 - a pleasant surprise!
Ring-billed Gull ca. 200
Herring Gull 65
Lesser Black-backed Gull 1
Great Black-backed Gull 65
Kurt Gaskill
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