VA BIRDers,
Marc Ribaudo, Rich Rieger and I did the route from the picnic area of Dyke
Marsh, north along GW Parkway then east towards southern Jones Pt Park and
then the northern portion of the park; this took about 4 hrs. After lunch we
did Dangerfield Island just south of National Airport, then south to hit a
couple of City of Alexandria waterfront parks then the National Cemetery
area. We finished at the Stone Bridge of the GW Parkway to count gulls and
waterfowl. Preliminary total is 68 species, where the average for the route
is 62 (N=15). Highlights were Common Raven (new to the route), flying over
Dangerfield Island soccer field towards the old Mirant power plant and
Orange-crowned Warbler at Jones Pt Park. Other notables were Great Egret
along GW Parkway south of the Stone Bridge, Merlin posted up before sunset
along GW Parkway south of the Stone Bridge, a pair of Peregrine Falcons on
the Wilson Bridge, a single Laughing Gull at sunset off the Stone Bridge,
Gray Catbird at Dangerfield Island (in tangled brush), and Rusty Blackbird
along GW Parkway south of the Stone Bridge. Biggest miss was probably
Golden-crowned Kinglet. Although totals have yet to be finalized its seems
like waterfowl numbers were somewhat mixed with some species down a bit
(singles for Lesser Scaup, Red-breasted Merganser, Ruddy Duck and
Pied-billed Grebe) and sparrow numbers seemed to be down a little, too.
Kurt Gaskill
