VA BIRDers,
After Huntley Meadows, Rich and I headed south hoping the fog burned off.
Nope! We passed the now almost usual Cooper's Hawk overlooking the pigeon
flock from the east side of Richmond Hwy at Fordham Rd (Hybla Valley) and
headed for Jackson Abbott Wildlife Refuge. The easily accessible portion is
mainly a "pocket park" and easily birded. Highlight here were 2 male Wood
Ducks. We also noted a good showing of other waterfowl, to wit:
C. Goose 300
Wood Duck 2
Gadwall 23
Mallard 60
No. Shoveler 2
No. Pintail 2
Green-winged Teal 70
Hooded Merganser 2
Sparrows were reasonably good here albeit with limited diversity:
E. Towhee 1
Field Sp 4
Song Sp 30
Swamp Sp 15
White-thr Sp 30
DE Junco 2
We tried viewing Occoquan Bay but even at 1pm visibility was less than a 100
yds. So, we settled for Burke Lake which was OK waterfowl-wise although
lacking in large numbers of anything:
C. Goose 24
Gadwall 17
Am. Black Duck 2
Mallard 6
Ring-necked Duck 6
Lesser Scaup 1
Bufflehead 1
Common Merganser 3
Ruddy Duck 25
Pied-billed Grebe 2
With that we headed home as seasonal chores awaited us.
Kurt Gaskill
