Straight out from the marina. Go all the way out on the floating fishing pier
and look straight ahead toward the island. There’s not much open water, so if
it is there it won’t be hard to find.
Dave
From: Scott Priebe
Sent: Friday, January 31, 2014 5:52 PM
To: David Boltz ; va-bird
Subject: RE: [Va-bird] Southern Fairfax & Prince William Co. - RN Grebe, WW
Scoters, LT Duck, Brown Thrashers, Woodcock, et. al.
Where on Burke Lake has the Red-necked Grebe been sighted? Form the Marina
perhaps?
Thanks,
Scott D. Priebe
Springfield, VA
From: david.boltz4@xxxxxxxxx
To: va-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Date: Fri, 31 Jan 2014 17:27:21 -0500
Subject: [Va-bird] Southern Fairfax & Prince William Co. - RN Grebe, WW
Scoters, LT Duck, Brown Thrashers, Woodcock, et. al.
Rich Rieger and I departed my house around 7:30 this morning and headed for
Pohick Bay Regional Park. There was even less open water than my last visit
on Monday (not a surprise) causing the waterfowl to be very tightly packed at
the end past the boat launch area. We tallied 14 species of ducks, plus
Canada Goose, Tundra Swan, and American Coot. There was an amazing number of
Hooded Megansers (500 or more) along with large numbers of Canvasback,
Redhead, American Black Duck, and Ring-necked Duck. We had all 3 Mergansers,
although only a lone male Red-breasted. Notable misses from recent postings
were the White-winged Scoters and any Grebes.
On the way to Occoquan Bay NWR we espied a bird perched atop a snag along Rt.
1 right after it abuts I-95 at the Woodbridge exit. After safely pulling over
we discovered it to be an American Kestrel, a good find for Fairfax County.
Just ahead and on the other side of the road was a Red-shouldered Hawk.
Highlights at the refuge were 9 species of sparrow, including one each of Fox
and American Tree. We also encountered 3 Brown Thrashers along Easy Rd. and
an American Woodcock flushed twice just off the same road. We had 2 Hermit
Thrushes there, also. The bay itself was almost entirely frozen over, so very
little open water equaled very few waterfowl.
Our final stop of the day was at Burke Lake in search of the Red-necked Grebe
reported yesterday. We found it, along with 2 White-winged Scoters, a female
Long-tailed Duck, and a Mute Swan. We also had great comparison looks at
Greater and Lesser Scaup in close proximity. Very little open water here,
also, but very productive.
Query: Has anyone else heard Northern Bobwhite calling at Burke Lake? Rich
and I both clearly hear one calling at least twice across the lake from the
main dock (not on the island, however). The area is certainly not their
typical habitat. Perhaps someone raises them locally?
Our total count for all 3 locations was 62 species. Not a bad winter day of
birding.
Dave Boltz
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