VA BIRDers,
Ten people showed up for the regular Sunday Field Trip to Dyke Marsh,
sponsored by the Friends of Dyke Marsh and open to all. (Please note that
the Field Trip schedule is interrupted for the CBC season: the next Trips
are Dec 2, Dec 9 and then Jan 6.) A chilly morning with, fortunately,
little wind. Typical winter birds were encountered with fine displays of
mixed feeding flocks containing the kinglets and Yellow-rumped Warblers with
one group containing a Brown Creeper and both groups had a Winter Wren
sounding off or actually appearing for an instant or two. The surprise of
the day was a raft of 41 Hooded Mergansers, apparently newly arrived, that
held forth in the lagoon south of the marina. Wonderful posing by two
Red-shouldered Hawks afforded all great scope looks where one participant
exclaimed "you can practically count the feathers!" A single Pine Siskin
vocalized above Ramp Road which another participant was able to dig out from
nearby vines and gum-tree-balls. After nearly everyone had left, Larry
Cartwright and I noted a small group of Juncos in the picnic area grass.
The list of 46 species tallied today are listed below.
Kurt Gaskill
C. Goose 75
Am. Black Duck 1
Mallard 24
Green-winged Teal 5
Bufflehead 4
Hooded Merganser 41
Pied-billed Grebe 4
DC Cormorant 15
Great Blue Heron 6
Great Egret 2, spotted near the golf course marsh before the field trip
Bald Eagle 2, adults
Cooper's Hawk 1
Red-shouldered Hawk 2
L. Gull 100
RB Gull 150
Herring Gull 6
Great Black-backed Gull 5
Mourning Dove 25
Belted Kingfisher 2, both females
Red-bellied WP 4
Downy WP 8
No. Flicker 2
Blue Jay 8
Am. Crow 4
Fish Crow 3
C. Chickadee 14
T. Titmouse 6
Brown Creeper 1
C. Wren 12
W. Wren 5, one singing
GC Kinglet 4
RC Kinglet 8
Am. Robin 4
No. Mocker 1
E. Starling 20
Yellow-rumped Warbler 10
Song Sp 20
Swamp Sp 4
White-thr Sp 48
DE Junco 8
No. Cardinal 15
Red-winged BB 7
House Finch 2
Pine Siskin 1
Am. Goldfinch 14
House Sparrow 6
