VA BIRDers,
After Dyke Marsh I went back to Pohick Park hoping to get a better
appreciation of the waterfowl there without the birds being scattered.
Clearly the group had large numbers of Gadwall, Redhead, Ring-necked Ducks,
Hooded Mergansers (some were displaying even near noon) and Ruddy Ducks, as
noted by others. The Eurasian Wigeon may have a little American in it, as
you can see from the photos, but does not appear to be a first generation
hybrid. Another hybrid duck was present, most likely a Gadwall X No. Pintail
- you can Google images which are very similar to the bird at Pohick.
Next, I tried viewing the Great Marsh of Mason Neck but the light was
glaring and so I could only ID perhaps 10% of the 10,000 waterfowl present.
Nothing unusual was noted although I spotted my only Horned Grebe of the
day, I finally saw a couple of Green-winged Teal for the month list, spotted
a line of Common Mergansers that were 260 strong and heard a Greater
Yellowlegs.
I then stopped by Occoquan Marina at nearly 2pm and most notable were 3
female Common Goldeneyes (but no interesting gulls). There were more Hooded
Mergansers, which was a theme today.
I went up to Ben Brennan park in the City of Alexandria and found 2 adult
and one immature Black-crowned Night-Herons plus a Wood Duck and Hooded
Merganser on the pond.
I drove over to Roach's Run and saw the Great Egret plus another 61 Hooded
Mergansers (my tally today was 184). I drove south to the small parking lot
just north of the Wilson Bridge and noted a Peregrine. After this I went to
the Stone Bridge near Dyke Marsh (see prior report) which was quite pleasant
as No. Shoveler, Merlin and Dunlin were new for the day. My Northern
Virginia January list is off to fine start with 115 species tallied to-date.
Kurt Gaskill
