VA BIRDers,
I met up with LInda Chittum at The Point, about a half hour down the road -
630. Clearly not as active as a week ago as only 83 species were tallied, a
few misses and low numbers of locals due to breeding activities (I assume).
Highlights in about 4 hrs were Northern Harrier near Rt 1 and Possum Pt Rd
being harassed by E. Starlings and a silently perched Blue-headed Vireo
Linda found half way down Cockpit Pt Rd. Other highlights and tallies were
(Linda did not get all of these):
Wood Duck 2
Great Egret 1
Red-shouldered Hawk 1
Red-tailed Hawk 1
Peregrine Falcon 1, this bird (or birds) may be local! Linda had two 2 weeks
ago.
YB Cuckoo 2
Belted Kingfisher 1, female
E. Wood Pewee 10
E. Kingbird 3
White-eyed V 7
Yellow-thr V 2
Red-eyed V 35
Tree Sw 2
No. Rough-winged Sw 1
Barn Sw 8
House Wren 1
BG Gnatcatcher 7
Gray-cheeked Thrush 1
Wood Thrush 4
Gray Catbird 3
Brown Thrasher 1
Cedar Waxwing 10
No. Parula 6
Magnolia 3
Black-thr Blue 1
Yellow-thr 4
Prairie 3
Blackpoll 2
Am. Redstart 5
Prothonotary 1
Worm-eating 7
No. Waterthrush 1
LA Waterthrush 2
Com. Yellowthroat 5
Canada 1
YB Chat 5, CF
Summer Tanager 4
Scarlet Tanager 3
E. Towhee 3
Chipping Sp 3
Field Sp 1
Rose-br Grosbeak 1, female
Blue Grosbeak 2
Indigo Bunting 18
Orchard O 7
Baltimore O 2
I continued to Occoquan Bay NWR, walking from the parking lot to Easy Rd and
then looping back to the lot via Fox Rd, 1100 to 1230pm. The highlight was a
Dickcissel moving through the grass on Fox Rd. Also noted were Wood Duck, YB
Cuckoo (2), Warbling V, No. Parula, Yellow (16), Prairie (3), Blackpoll (3),
No. Waterthrush, Com. Yellowthroat (14), YB Chat (2), Indigo Bunting (6),
Orchard O (8), and Baltimore O. I should point out that my loop encountered
considerable flies, with some portions of Easy Rd reaching 4 on the Fly
Scale and several stretches of Easy Rd firmly on the 3 scale. The bit along
the river was 1 to 2 and the parking lot was basically 1. Here is the Fly
Scale:
1 present and ignorable
2 present with minimal impact on birding
3 mostly tolerable but impacts birding
4 barely tolerable and you think about turning back to your car mainly
because your hands are moving all around swatting flies
5 so bad you must turn back to your car; usually biting is the key
Next, I travelled to Occoquan Bay Marina and noted the Redhead family group
I previously reported. I did a little web and book reading and note that
Redheads breed near L. Erie and Ontario & up along the St Lawrence, mainly
using marshes near open, somewhat shallow (to a few meters) of water. They
build nests typically attached to rushes and cattails. And the species is
known to be a parasite to other ducks, often Canvasbacks (a long list of
additional species is available including bitterns!). Eggs take about 11
days.
For our birds, I first noted the male Redhead April 21 - my last note of
females was 19 Feb when a total of 13 (mixed) were recorded at the same
location as seen today. The male Redhead was noted off and on in the area
prior to today's sighting. This suggests a minimum of 28 days has elapsed.
If we believe the ducklings are a minimum of 3 weeks old, then the female
was on nest during my sighting of April 21. The area that the birds were
noted - about 5 yrds off shore - is near a little marshy bit (Fairfax Co),
west of the house with the helicopter as you look north from Occ. Marina.
The next nearest potential habitat is also west of the Occ. Marina towards
Rt 1 on the Prince William side and then there is the well boat-traveled
marsh just to the east of the helicopter house, Fairfax Co side. I have
viewed all locations and have no waterfowl sighting inside those portions
(which are well covered with spadderdock now and contain cattails further
interior. Since I have seen the male near the little marshy bit west of the
helicopter house several times including in April 21 (save once well to the
east in Belmont Bay with a Lesser Scaup, 5/5), I tend to believe the nest
was here. I believe the evidence supports a Fairfax Co breeding record.
From what I gather, this is a first record for the state of Virginia. Ilook forward to comments.
