On a boat trip last Friday I noticed that there is a fairly large rookery of Great Blue Herons at Dutch Gap back on the old river channel on a couple of islands. I don't know if they can be seen from any of the trails. But the birds were there in force. Maybe 40-50 nests. Mostly on one small island, and a few on another one very near to the first one. It looked like they were in several sycamore trees. The other islands didn't have as many of those trees. They are not very acclimated to people and left the nests when we approached. So maybe that's where many of those birds have gone that used to nest at the marsh.
Al Warfield----- Original Message ----- From: "Lewis Barnett" <lbarnett@xxxxxxxxxxxx> To: "Richmond Audubon Society mailing list" <va-richmond-general@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Saturday, January 16, 2010 5:13 PMSubject: [va-richmond-general] Henricus - Dutch Gap Conservation Area , 1/16/10
I spent the morning today down at Dutch Gap. There was a bit of hazy overcast, but overall, it was a beautiful day, with temperatures hitting the mid-fifties by noontime. Dutch Gap was a popular spot, with several other Richmond area birders and groups from the Monticello Bird Club and the Williamsburg Bird Club making appearances. The birds were there in force, too.Canada Geese were by far the most numerous waterfowl, but there were good numbers of Ring-necked Ducks and Mallards. Found in smaller numbers were American Wigeon, Gadwall, Wood Duck, Bufflehead, N. Shoveler, and N. Pintail. One Green-winged Teal and one American Black Duck were spotted by the Williamsburg group from the second observation platform. When I arrived at about 8;15, there were around 20 Great Blue Herons roosting in the sycamores across the marsh where the nests were last year - I hope this is a good sign that the rookery there will be active again this year. Two Great Egrets were also spotted. Good numbers of Killdeer and a small flock of about a dozen Wilson's Snipe were found on the lagoon mud flats behind the Visitor Center, with good viewing from the Twin Rock Spur.Two adult Bald Eagles, a Red-tailed Hawk and an American Kestrel were spotted around the marsh. The Osprey that was sighted by Shirley Devan earlier in the week was not reported by anyone I talked to today.Good birding, Lewis -------- Location: Henricus - Dutch Gap Conservation Area Observation date: 1/16/10 Number of species: 51 Canada Goose 400 Wood Duck 18 Gadwall 10 American Wigeon 32 American Black Duck 1 Mallard 110 Northern Shoveler 12 Northern Pintail 6 Green-winged Teal 1 Ring-necked Duck 48 Bufflehead 8 Double-crested Cormorant 185 Great Blue Heron 22 Great Egret 2 Black Vulture 50 Turkey Vulture 10 Bald Eagle 2 Red-tailed Hawk 1 American Kestrel 1 American Coot 1 Killdeer 20 Wilson's Snipe 12 Ring-billed Gull 225 Herring Gull 3 Great Black-backed Gull 2 Belted Kingfisher 1 Red-bellied Woodpecker 1 Downy Woodpecker 2 Hairy Woodpecker 2 Northern Flicker 3 American Crow 3 Carolina Chickadee 3 Tufted Titmouse 2 White-breasted Nuthatch 1 Brown Creeper 1 Carolina Wren 6 Golden-crowned Kinglet 1 Ruby-crowned Kinglet 2 Eastern Bluebird 6 Northern Mockingbird 2 Brown Thrasher 1 European Starling 10 Yellow-rumped Warbler 2 Savannah Sparrow 1 Song Sparrow 2 White-throated Sparrow 5 Dark-eyed Junco 6 Northern Cardinal 4 Red-winged Blackbird 15 House Finch 3 American Goldfinch 1 This report was generated automatically by eBird v2(http://ebird.org/VA) You are subscribed to VA-Richmond-General. To unsubscribe, send email tova-richmond-general-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with 'unsubscribe' in the Subject field. To adjust other settings (vacation, digest, etc.) please visit, //www.freelists.org/list/va-richmond-general.
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