Spent a couple of nice hours at Occoquan Bay NWR this morning. Song birds
were tough with the 20+ mph North winds all day. Large flocks of Scaup all
over the water, good numbers of Greater Scaup, Canvasback, Redheads,
Red-breasted Mergansers, Common Mergansers and Bald Eagles. Also nice
finding 3 American Tree Sparrows.
Occoquan Bay NWR - CPW02, Prince William, US-VA
Mar 3, 2013 9:25 AM - 1:40 PM
Protocol: Traveling
4.0 mile(s)
41 species
Canada Goose 36
Gadwall 28
American Black Duck 9
Mallard 16
Canvasback 58
Redhead 24 Scattered groups of male and female redhead ducks within large rafts of scalp usually 3 to 4 at a time but cumulatively at least 24 were counted
Ring-necked Duck 51
Greater Scaup 52 Individual and small groups of 6 to 10 scattered within large rafts of lesser scaup - cumulatively at least 52 were counted-most were males but occasionally females were seen.
Lesser Scaup 5000 Large rafts of lesser scaup with greater scaup scattered throughout each raft. At least 7 to 8 rafts were observed and count estimates made.
Bufflehead 45
Common Merganser 41
Red-breasted Merganser 241 Red-breasted mergansers were observed in the lower Occoquan River at the northeast end of the refuge near thee end of Charley Road. There were two large groups drifting in the river - one containing about 180 birds and the other slightly smaller with about 60 individuals.
Ruddy Duck 14
Pied-billed Grebe 1
Horned Grebe 1
Double-crested Cormorant 1
Great Blue Heron 8
Turkey Vulture 8
Osprey 1
Bald Eagle 23 Bald eagles were observed as pairs flying, courting, and perched in several locations. From the refuge, other eagles were seen flying over the Potomac River, perched in trees on an island off the shore of the refuge, and in trees on the opposite shore (two spots had 3 and 4, respectively perched in close proximity with a mix of age groups.
Red-shouldered Hawk 2
Red-tailed Hawk 3
American Coot 625
Ring-billed Gull X
Herring Gull X
Great Black-backed Gull 2
Red-bellied Woodpecker 2
Downy Woodpecker 1
Pileated Woodpecker 1
American Kestrel 1
Eastern Phoebe 1
American Crow 9
Carolina Chickadee 7
Tufted Titmouse 2
Carolina Wren 7
European Starling 2
American Tree Sparrow 3
Song Sparrow 16
Northern Cardinal 5
Red-winged Blackbird 20
Common Grackle 12
View this checklist online at http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S13267364
This report was generated automatically by eBird v3 (http://ebird.org)