VA Birders,
To build on Donald Sweig’s Snowy story just a bit – we continued to watch
the bird on Sunday evening as darkness fell. He/She moved perches a total
of 8 times before we lost it in the dark at 5:55. Luckily for the crowd,
the Snowy continued to make its way closer to Gravelly Pint until it was
sitting atop the shed with the checkered roof. To our delight, it then took
an even closer perch close to the mouth of Roaches Run as it became
increasing dark. Light was low but this afforded us with some wonderful
studies at relatively close rage. The Snowy then made a pass at a Killdeer
along the shore of the inlet before crossing the mouth of the Roaches Run
(I’m guessing this would be DC waters according to Google Map?) before
repositioning on the ground on our side of the point. After another flight,
we relocated the bird at a safe distance perched on top of the first
largest tree opposite the soccer field past the port-a-johns. The Snowy
then made a final pass at a few Killdeer (sounded like multiples) before
making a wide arc back towards the airport flying close to the parkway. An
amazing show made even more special as this was my third attempt for the
bird at Gravelly yesterday.
Other birds of interest seen along the Potomac (VA and DC) over the weekend
included:
Ross's Goose (actually up the other river at Anacostia River Park on Sat
morn, first reported earlier in the week; if accepted would be a first DC
record)
Cackling Goose (between the Memorial and 14th St Bridge)
Black Duck (Gravelly Point)
Redhead (Gravelly Point)
Lesser Scaup
Greater Scaup (a few in close from Hains Point on Sat)
Bufflehead
Hooded Merganser (Columbia Island Marina)
Common Merganser (1 female in Washington Channel on Sat morning)
Red-breasted Merganser (One female flying up the Potomac Sun morning)
Red-throated Loon (Gravelly Point on Sun)
Great Egret (Roaches Run)
Black-crowned Night-Heron (8 roosting in Washington channel; 3 flybys Sun
eve at Gravelly)
Merlin (Gravelly Point)
Peregrine Falcon (usual spot on the 14th St railroad bridge)
Kestrel (Gravelly Point)
Lesser Black-backed Gull (2 first winter birds in the Washington Chanel)
American Pipit (1 in flight over Gravelly on Sun morning)
On Sat afternoon I took a spin around Hains Point in the rain to see if the
Snowy was visible from DC. It had been reported earlier that day sitting
along the shoreline of the airport on the VA side out of sight from Gravely
Point. No Snowy that day but I was amazing at the number of Horned Grebe
spread along the Potomac. Throughout the mixed Scaup (mostly Lesser) I
counted over 50 Horned Grebes between the tip of the point and the 14th St
railroad bridge. It was difficult in the steady rain, but that would be a
conservative estimate.
Happy Birding,
Will McPhail
Washington, DC
On Sun, Jan 12, 2014 at 6:15 PM, Donald Sweig <skybirds.d@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
When I arrived at Gravelly Point about 3:30 this afternoon to look for
the Snowy Owl, there were already at least 50, maybe 75, people there
looking for and at the bird, which was hunkered down under the three orange
barrels just to the right of the number three runway sign. It sat right
there for the next hour and a half. About 5 o'clock, it took off and
flew to the left and perched on the top of the little needle on one of the
airport communications towers; it sat there for about five minutes
affording very good looks. The bird then flew back to the right again,
flew around various places on the field, and landed on top of the tower
with the windsock. At this point it was getting dark, and I was getting
cold, so I left to go home.
The owl's plumage was clearly visible when it was sitting on top of the
tower. It is very dark and heavily marked on the lower part of it's body,
but it has a long, low white bib, and the back and the top of the head
appear to have very little barring it all. Traditionally, one might have
thought this was a young male, although more recent information suggests
that plumage is not to be reliable way to determine sex and age in Snowy
Owls.
It is certainly a very attractive bird, and lots of people had an
opportunity to see it today.
Donald Sweig
Falls Church, Virginia
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