VA BIRDers,
Highlights of the Alexandria subsector that Marc Ribaudo, Linda Millington,
Sandy Farkas and I covered were Peregrine Falcon consuming breakfast on a barge
off the Dyke Marsh picnic area at sunrise and a Merlin at sunset near Hunting
Creek. We also encountered seasonally large numbers of Double-crested
Cormorants (32), had a fine raptor day (6 species), caught a Great Horned Owl
off guard at Dangerfield Island, tallied a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker and Winter
Wren at Dangerfield, spotted both kinglet species, noted two Fox Sparrows along
the GW Parkway just north of the Dyke Marsh picnic area, and identified 2 Rusty
Blackbirds mixed in with many Common Grackles and Starlings at Dangerfield.
On the downside, the theme was reduced waterfowl numbers on the Potomac and it
impacted the count through a reduction of about 8 species from previous years.
Gulls were also down and no Laughing Gulls were found. The mitigation site
near the Stone Bridge at Hunting Creek yielded mainly No. Cardinals and Song
Sparrows. 51 species were noted for the route (previous ave N=4 ca. 60).
Kurt Gaskill
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