Dyke Marsh, Alexandria, VA, 4/14/02, leader, Rich Rieger
The cloudy skies cleared and the temperature soared for the Sunday morning
Dyke Marsh walk. We had 14 walkers join the Mystery Tour for a wonderful
morning of birding. And like the bumper stickers say...a slow day of birding
is better than any day at the office...Unfortunately for the birders, I think
we need to get up even earlier to beat the people fishing these days - the
place was full of shad(?) fishers - did the season just open???
I got my first glimpse of the new (?) Osprey nest on the platform near the
Hunting Towers/PortoVecchio complex. The Osprey activity in the Marsh area is
just incredible and their "chirping" fills the air. We must have seen the
same Laughing Gull flock(s) that passed over PlanetWaves house - quite a
ruckus - We got to watch two Carolina Wrens carrying nesting material (Larry
-know what I mean, nod, nod , wink, wink, know what I mean) - they have their
eye on a small Juniper near the beginning of the boardwalk. The highlight of
the day for me was one of the bonuses you get when you're out doing what we
do - a three foot snapping turtle crossing the path near Dead Beaver Beach -
must have just laid eggs as it was heading back to the water - figuring it
was hungry after that effort, I was going to give it a bite of my granola
bar, but the other walkers said that might not be a good idea. Big miss was
the Purple Finches I observed on the peninsula on Saturday - not seen on
Sunday. Here's the list.
Common Loon - 1
Horned Grebe - 2
DC Cormorant - 100
GB Heron - 18
C. Goose - 40
Am.Black Duck - 2
Mallard - 36
Lesser Scaup - 3
Bufflehead - 2
RB Merganser - 14
TV - 1
Osprey - 6
RT Hawk - 1
Am. Coot - 10
Laughing Gull - 75
RB Gull - 100
Herring Gull - a few
GBB Gull - a few
Caspian Tern - 4
Rock Dove - 50
Mourning Dove - 20
RB WP - 2
Downy WP - 6
NO. Flicker - 6
Tree Swallow - 10
Barn Swallow - 6
Blue Jay - 8
AM Crow - 20
Fish Crow - 4
Carolina Chicks - 30
Tufted Titmouse -10
Carolina Wren - 14 -
RC Kinglets - 1
BG Gnatcatchers - 3
Am Robin - 30
Gray Catbird - 1
No. Mockingbird - 1
Brown Thrasher - 4
E. starling - 20
No. Parula - 1
YR Warbler - 16
Palm Warbler - 2
Common Yellowthroat - 2
No. Cardinal - 30
E. Towhee - 4
Song Sparrow - 10
Swamp Sp. - 1
WT Sparrow - 15
RW Blackbird - 90
Com. Grackle - 6
House Finch - 6
AM. Goldfinch - 30
House Sparrow - 20
You are subscribed to VA-BIRD. To post to this mailing list, simply send email
to va-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx. To unsubscribe, send email to
va-bird-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with 'unsubscribe' in the Subject field.
