Ben,
One spot with a combination of habitats is the Ellanor Lawrence pond
across from Cabell's Mill and Rocky Run. This pond is also connected to the
entrance to the trail but you don't have to go far in to see lots.
Airplane traffic later in the morning makes early visits palatable.
Directions: From Route 66 coming East from Manassas: take Route 28 North
toward Dulles airport. Ellanor Lawrence Park is located on Walney Road, at the
first signal light one block from 66. Parking is on either side, at the pond
or at the Mill and Rocky Run lots.
From Route 66 coming West, take Route 28 North toward
Dulles. Same info.
From Route 50, take 28 South toward Manassas.
From Lee Highway/29, take 28 North toward Dulles.
Ellen O'Donohue
Vienna VA
-----Original Message-----
From: Breep@xxxxxxx
Sent: Apr 20, 2004 11:22 PM
To: va-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Cc: jmathews@xxxxxxxx
Subject: [va-bird] Survey opportunity: Quest for the best passage migrant spot
in Fairfax County
So, what are the best spots to snag passage migrants after a good flight
night in spring? Bart Hutchinson, Jim Mathews, Jason Waanders (honorary
member),
and I would like to know for our annual Fairfax County Birding Dads Big Day.
We have traditionally done the dawn chorus at Great Falls, but want to try a
more southern strategy this year.
So here's my idea. On either the May 1 or May 2, we station birders at
various locations in the county. Each team counts all of the passage migrants
(and
interesting residents) for, say, 1 hour after sunrise (my idea is to keep the
counting time relatively short so as not to disadvantage relatively small
areas -- I'm interested in concentrations of birds, not birds findable with a
morning of hiking around). Then we collect the data and see where the birds
are.
Depending on how many people are interested, we could cover the following
spots:
Riverbend
Great Falls
Wakefield Rec. Ctr.
Dyke Marsh
Huntley -- Hike/Bike Trail
Huntley -- Main entrance
Ft. Belvoir -- Accotink
Ft. Belvoir -- Ruins
Meadowwood -- two spots?
Pohick Bay Regional Park
Mason Neck SP (access?)
Mason Neck NWR
Mason Neck residential neighborhood at "heel"
Other possibilities:
Hunter-Hacor property (near BRPO Rd.)
Laurel Hill (Lorton)
White Oaks Park
Burke Lake
Mt. Vernon (access?)
Fort Hunt Park
Hemlock Overlook Park
Other northern county sites (Reston, etc.)?
Others?
For calibration, I suggest we have a couple of nearby spots outside Fairfax
County covered:
Occoquan NWR
Leesylvania SP
Cockpit Rd.
Northern Rock Creek Park
Monticello
Ideally, we would do this every year, like the waterfowl survey. If you are
interested, let me know which day(s) you are available (of course, whether
that day will follow a good flight night will be random chance), where you
would
prefer to cover, and whether you are willing to cover another spot. If it
looks like we have enough interest to pull this off, I will send more details.
I'm also happy for any ideas on how to make this work better.
Ben Jesup
Alexandria
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