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VA Birders -
As you can tell, Kurt Gaskill has been having something strange happen to his
computer lately. Here's the message he's been trying to send:
Bart
In a message dated 1/5/2004 7:31:31 PM Eastern Standard Time, KurtCapt87
writes:
VA BIRDers,
Bats, painted turtles and snakes, butterflies and moths, and spring peepers
galore met participants on the Fort Belvoir CBC this past Sunday. Most of
the reports are in and so here is a tentative summary of highlights found
during the count.
The total number of species reported was 116. Highlight of the count were
the outstanding observations of not one but TWO Harris's Sparrows at Julie
Metz Wetlands, Pr. Wm. Co. I am in agreement with Marc Ribaudo that few
other
counts (if any!) recorded this species east of the Mississippi!
Other great finds on the count were Great Egret and Blue-winged Teal at
Jackson Abbott Wildlife Refuge, Snow Goose in the Lorton area, Merlins at
Huntley
Meadows and Accotink Wildlife Refuge, Peregrine Falcon in Maryland, No.
Bobwhite and King Rail (wow!) at Occoquan Bay NWR, Lesser Yellowlegs at
Huntley
Meadows, multiple sites with displaying American Woodcock, Laughing Gulls at
Neabsco Cr., Red-breasted Nuthatches at a few sites including Mason Neck NWR,
House Wren at Accotink Wildlife Refuge, Gray Catbirds, Brown Thrashers at
Pohick NVRP Golf Course and Mason Neck NWR, Am. Pipit at Meadowood (BLM),
Pine
Warblers at multiple sites including Huntley Meadows (Telegraph Rd entrance
trail), Common Yellowthroat at Occ. Bay NWR, Chipping Sparrows at multiple
sites, and Pine Siskins near Hayfield (Huntley Sector). Count week birds
were
California Gull, Lesser Black-backed Gull and Clay-colored Sparrow. Biggest
miss was probably Horned Grebe. Once everything is in, I will provide a more
detailed report.
Let me exclaim a hearty "hoo-rah" to all participants for doing an
outstanding job! Christmas Bird Counts are one of the few ways Jane and John
Doe can
contribute to our understanding of environment and provide hard data that can
influence land-use decisions. Thank You!
Kurt Gaskill
compiler &chief dishwasher, FT B CBC
