Greg Fleming, Laura McDonald, Katherine Wychulis, and I participated in the
Audubon Society of Northern Virginia's annual Birdathon yesterday, 12 May.
The day started in the predawn hours with a Grasshopper Sparrow singing at
the Fort Belvioir Airfield off Telegraph Road. We heard 2 Eastern
Whip-poor-wills (saw one) and heard a woodcock at American Legion Post 28
off Joplin Road. Dawn greeted us with singing Chipping Sparrows and a Pine
Warbler. Cockpit and Possum Pt. Roads were quite productive, with perhaps
the best bird being a singing Alder Flycatcher. We found 27 species of
warbler, with multiple sightings of Cape May, Tennessee, and a Bay-breasted
being particularly pleasant. Kurt Gaskill pointed out a Blackburnian Warbler
that we missed. We also found a singing Yellow-throated Vireo. Julie Metz
yielded a singing Ruby-crowned Kinglet and Chestnut-sided Warbler while
Leesylvania State Park produced the expected Yellow-throated Warblers, plus
a flyover Broad-winged Hawk, Bonaparte's Gulls, and a single drake Ruddy
Duck. We tallied 8 Lesser Scaup, a solo Forster's Tern, a Least Bittern, a
flyover Green Heron, and several singing Warbling Vireos and Prothonotary
Warblers at Occoquan NWR. The Occoquan Bay Marina hosted at a least a drake
Gadwall (I believe Kurt found 2). The final stop of the day was at Dyke
Marsh to pick up a few species that Kurt reported, including the Ring-necked
Duck and mergansers. We dipped on them as we rapidly ran out of daylight,
but did find the Tundra Swan, one Laughing Gull, and a dark-mantled
individual smaller than the few nearby Herring Gulls and with a bill more
slender than a Great Black-backed Gull. Getting the Lesser Black-backed Gull
was a sweet end to a long day.
Larry Cartwright
prowarbler@xxxxxxxxxxx
