This past weekend 14 participants from the Audubon Society of Northern
Virginia went on a Northern Neck birding trip. We saw 65 species.
Friday Dec. 11th we met at the Best Western in Warsaw and went out from 3-5
PM to the Hutchinson Unit of the Rappahannock River Valley NWR (RRVNWR).
Based on a recommendation from their Wildlife Biologist, Sandy Spencer, we
went looking for blackbirds. She suggested we go to the new canoe launch
area at dusk. We got there and drove down to the launch parking area and
waited looking over the marsh surrounded by trees on the hills. A couple of
hundred blackbirds, mostly Red-winged with about 30 Common Grackles flew by.
There were 5 American Black Ducks feeding on the edge of the water and two
Hooded Mergansers. There was an adult Bald Eagle roosting in a tree and a
few Cardinals in the nearby trees but not the show that we expected so just
as the sun set (4:45 PM) we decided to leave and slowly drove out into the
grass fields. Our cars were connected by walkie-talkies and someone said
"there they are to the right" and coming toward us from the east to the
right of the cars was a long funnel of black birds with thousands of birds
darkening the sky heading toward the marsh we had just left. After they
passed we turned left towards the main road and in front of us was another
funnel of blackbirds heading toward the marsh with several thousand more
blackbirds. As we looked to the left a Northern Harrier was feeding over
the field and a third funnel of blackbirds was coming in from the North.
All told we probably saw over 10,000 blackbirds heading toward the marsh at
around 5 PM. We had just left just a little too early. A very dramatic
experience and thank you Sandy. We should have waited at the water 10 more
minutes to see them land for the night but it was a spectacular siting that
I hope others get to see.
Saturday, the 12th, we left the hotel at 7 AM and drove to George
Washington's birth place on Rt. 3 to begin our long day. We made
arrangements with Rijk Morawe, the Resource Program Manager, to park near
the obelisk before they opened and walked across the parking lot for our
first view of Pope's Creek. There were birds everywhere. We walked around
behind the visitor center on the trail and then around behind George
Washingon's birthplace home. The sun was perfect coming in from the right
and lit up the hundreds of waterfowl and shorebirds in front of us. There
were 6 Bald Eagles in the trees and lots of other birds. Two exciting birds
were a pair of winter Baltimore Orioles behind the Visitor Center seen from
the path. We also birded the beach at the end of the road to the left.
GW Birds:
Canada Geese 100+
Mute Swan 2
Tundra Swan 50+
Gadwall 100+
American Wigeon 12
American Black Duck 10
Mallard 12
Canvasback 50
Redhead 6
Lesser Scaup 70
Bufflehead 100+
Common Goldeneye 5
Hooded Merganser 20
Ruddy Ducks 2800+
Common Loons 2
Horned Grebe 1
Double-crested Cormorant 3
Great Blue Heron 5
Bald Eagle 10
American Kestrel 1
Kildeer 30
Ring-billed Gull 20
Great Black-backed Gull 5
Belted Kingfisher 2
Red-bellied Woodpecker 1
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker 3
Downy Woodpecker 2
Northern Flicker 6
Blue Jay 20
American Crow 10
Carolina Chickadee 4
Tufted Titmouse 4
White-breasted Nuthatch 1
Carolina Wren 1
Eastern Bluebird 2
Northern Mockingbird 2
European Starling 50
White-throated Sparrow 5
Dark-eyed Junco 15
Northern Cardinal 3
Red-winged Blackbird 10
Baltimore Oriole 2
American Goldfinch 2
Then we drove to Westmorland State Park but the whole park was
underconstruction so we got out at the launch area and saw a few more
Bufflehead, a Ring-billed Gull, 4 Rock Pigeons and a couple of
White-throated Sparrows but not much else so we left and drove east all the
way to the Chesapeake Bay. Along the way we saw 30 Black Vultures, 15
Turkey Vultures, a Red-tailed Hawk, and 100 European Starlings.
We met Tom Saunders at Dameron Marsh Natural Area Preserve and he took us
around there and Hughlett Point Natural Area Preserve. Tom is a member of
the state rare bird committee who lives in that area, and a nice guy who is
an example of what a helpful birder should be. At Dameron Marsh we saw:
Canada Goose 30
Tundra Swans 5
Bufflehead 30
Double-crested Cormorant 6
Great Blue Heron 1
Bald Eagle 3
Red-shouldered Hawk 1
American Kestrel 1
Kildeer 1
Ring-billed Gull 10
Forster's Tern 2
Mourning Dove 1
Downy Woodpecker 2
Blue Jay 5
American Crow 4
Carolina Wren 2
Eastern Bluebird 8
European Starling 12
Yellow-rumped Warbler 80
Song Sparrow 2
Swamp Sparrow 5
White-throated Sparrow 20
Dark-eyed Junco 4
Northern Cardinal 2
Red-winged Blackbird 50
Eastern Meadowlark 3
American Goldfinch 2
Hughlett Point Birds:
Tundra Swans 50
American Black Duck 12
Mallard 6
Lesser Scaup 30
Surf Scoter 20
Long-tailed Duck 15
Bufflehead 50
Ruddy Duck 10
Common Loon 6
Horned Grebe 2
Brown Pelican 7
Double-crested Cormorant 3
Great Blue Heron 2
Bald Eagle 1
Ring-billed Gull 15
Herring Gull 1
Great Black-backed Gull 6
Belted Kingfisher 1
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker 2
Northern Flicker 2
Blue Jay 4
Tufted Titmouse 2
Carolina Wren 1
Winter Wren 2
White-throated Sparrow 4
Sunday morning it was raining, some times hard. We started off at the
Tayloe Unit of the RRVNWR where we had about an hour of very light rain so
we walked from the house down to the river. Our favorite bird there was a
Merlin that sat 50 feet away from us on top of a snag for 15 minutes with
lots of small birds below mobbing it. Best look we had ever had of a
Merlin. The birds we saw during that hour were:
Canada Goose 210
Ruddy Duck 1
Double-crested Cormorant 3
Red-shouldered Hawk 1
Bald Eagle 4
Merlin 1
Red-bellied Woodpecker 2
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker 1
Downy Woodpecker 2
Northern Flicker 2
Blue Jay 12
American Crow 10
Carolina Wren 5
Tufted Titmouse 4
Carolina Wren 1
Eastern Bluebird 1
Cedar Waxwing 2
Yellow-rumped Warbler 2
Eastern Towhee 3
Song Sparrow 4
White-throated Sparrow 12
Northen Cardinal 5
Red-winged Blackbird 12
Then the rain really started so we drove to the Wilna Unit of the RRVNWR
along the way we saw 50 European Starling and a dozen Red-winged Blackbirds.
We drove around the Unit but didn't get out because of the rain. There wer
lots of grassland birds jumping out of the road awe drove around the Refuge
but we could not Id them. We did see one Northern Harrier Hawk fly up over
the field. Sandy was nice enough to come out on Sunday morning to join us
but it was too wet do do much. So we drove back toward Fredericksburg.
Along the way we stopped at the ponds on Route 3 in King George County on
private property that we had permission to enter, and birded from the cars
(10 cars). At the ponds we saw:
Canada Goose 100+
Canvasback 40+
Ring-necked Ducks 100+
Bufflehead 20
Hooded Merganser 30
Ruddy Duck 50
Pied-billed Grebe 2
Great Blue Heron 1
Ring-billed Gull 30
All in all it was a very nice weekend. In Warsaw we ate one night at Anna's
Italian restaurant and one night at Lowry's in Tappahannock.
Ray F. Smith, Jr.
Oakton, Virginia
