I spent the day yesterday (March 11) in most of my usual upper Northern Neck
haunts starting at the King George Ponds along route 3 near Sealston,
progressing to Dogue, and then to the Dahlgren Wayside park at the 301 bridge
over the Potomac River. From there I went to Westmoreland County: Bowie Rd,
the Muse Rd (624) overlook into the Potomac, and then a couple private
locations in Leedstown. There were no really exciting finds among the 89
species and 11 ebird lists, but it was a superb day to be out, the field
sparrows were singing, the frogs were chorusing (Leopard and spring peeper),
the red maples were in full bloom, and the vernal pools were full of salamander
eggs.
I am sorry we had almost no winter, but I am glad that spring is here.
Here are the highlights
1. Like many other people out this weekend I found good numbers of rusty
blackbirds. 95 of the 117 found in Leedstown were at my property along Peedee
Creek. They exhibited a huge variety of plumages as they foraged on the mucky
ground in the alder swamp, quietly walking while flipping leaves and catching
tasty morsels they found below. After I had been silently watching for about 15
minutes, one nervous bird suddenly noticed me and he spooked the rest of them.
They sat in the blooming red maples against the blue sky, clucking and singing
their squeaky-gate songs. Wonderful! Here I also found 10 wood ducks who I
hope will nest in the boxes I readied for them a couple weeks ago.
2. The one FOY (first of year) bird for me was 4 Blue-winged Teals at a private
farm in Leedstown. Also present at this farm were 4 pintail, 75 gadwall, 6
american wigeon, 8 shovelers, 4 ring-necked ducks, 2 coot, 2 pied-billed grebe,
2 horned grebe, 5 common mergansers, 35 green-winged teal and 22 rusty
blackbirds.
3. Tree Swallows (34 at 3 King George locations), and Osprey (3) were also my
FOY for the NNK.
4. A Dunlin and three snipe were visible across the river from the big bend
Leedstown Rd where 17 male red-breasted mergansers were pestered by hungry
ring-billed gulls.
5. The adult bald eagles seen were all single birds, their mates certainly
incubating their broods of eggs.
6. The geese are basically gone. Where I saw thousands of Canada Geese a
couple weekends ago, today's total was only 122 birds in 7 locations.
7. The Dahlgren Wayside which I have only visited a couple times before had the
only canvasbacks for the day (250), a couple shovelers, and good numbers of
lesser scaup (275) and ruddy duck (310) some of which were starting to turn
ruddy. What impressed me most about this location though, was the huge number
of double-crested cormorants roosting on the beams of the 301 bridge, There
were at least 650, and probably more that could not be seen due to the angle.
8. The numbers of waterfowl were down at the King George ponds, but there was
still good variety including redheads (3), wigeons, gadwalls, shovelers, tundra
swan, horned and pied-billed grebe, coots, a green-winged teal, lesser scaup
and ring-necked ducks.
9. At Bowie Rd the only birds seen in the field that hosted two brewer's
blackbirds on my previous two visits had only killdeer (26) and a few
starlings.
10. Looking into the nearly-calm Potomac from the end of Muse Rd the viewing
conditions were outstanding. In the distance 25 gannets could be seen flying,
diving, and resting on the water, and 42 red-throated loons (but no common
loons) were scattered up and down the river, as were 12 common goldeneye and
dozens of buffleheads. 5 horned grebes, 3 surf scoters and 3 greater scaup
were also here.
Below is my ebird list for the day. The number in () is the number of ebird
lists (out of 11) that noted that species.
ALl the best
Happy Spring
Fred
Canada Goose 122 (7)
Mute Swan 3
Tundra Swan 5 (4)(Others heard flying over at night invisible against Orion.
Others seen at Washingtons Birthplace as I drove by on Rt 624 but I did not
count them or visit that park on this trip)
Wood Duck 24 (2)
Gadwall 173 (2)
American Wigeon 30 (2)
American Black Duck 1
Mallard 18 (3)
Blue-winged Teal 4
Northern Shoveler 16 (3)
Northern Pintail 4
Green-winged Teal 52 (3)
Canvasback 250
Redhead 3
Ring-necked Duck 170 (6)
Greater Scaup 3
Lesser Scaup 321 (4)
Greater/Lesser Scaup 50
Surf Scoter 3
Bufflehead 203 (5)
Common Goldeneye 12
Common Merganser 5
Red-breasted Merganser 24 (4)
Ruddy Duck 334 (3)
Red-throated Loon 42
Pied-billed Grebe 18 (5)
Horned Grebe 9 (3)
Northern Gannet 25
Double-crested Cormorant 669 (4)
Great Blue Heron 9 (5)
Black Vulture 18 (3)
Turkey Vulture 42 (9)
Osprey 3 (3)
Bald Eagle 24 (9)
Northern Harrier 4 (3)
Red-shouldered Hawk 2
Red-tailed Hawk 10 (6)
American Kestrel 5 (3
American Coot 54 (4)
Killdeer 37 (5)
Dunlin 1
Wilson's Snipe 8 (2)
Ring-billed Gull 2,292 (8)
Herring Gull 65
Rock Pigeon 22
Mourning Dove 18 (7)
Belted Kingfisher 2
Red-bellied Woodpecker 12 (7)
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker 1
Downy Woodpecker 1
Northern Flicker 5 (4)
Pileated Woodpecker 1
Eastern Phoebe 4 (3)
Blue Jay 6 (4)
American Crow 38 (9)
Fish Crow 1
Horned Lark 5 (2)
Tree Swallow 34 (3)
Carolina Chickadee 9 (4)
Tufted Titmouse 5 (4)
Carolina Wren 18 (9)
Golden-crowned Kinglet 4 (2)
Ruby-crowned Kinglet 2
Eastern Bluebird 20 (8)
Hermit Thrush 2 (2)
American Robin 20 (4)
Gray Catbird 2 calling at dusk; I am
assuming these are two that overwintered here
Northern Mockingbird 27 (7) very vocal today
Brown Thrasher 3 (2)
European Starling 87 (6)
Pine Warbler 3 (I was expecting a lot more)
Yellow-rumped Warbler 15 (4)
Eastern Towhee 2
Chipping Sparrow 2
Field Sparrow 12 (4)
Savannah Sparrow 22 (4)
Fox Sparrow 2 (2)
Song Sparrow 72 (9)
Swamp Sparrow 6
White-throated Sparrow 91 (4)
White-crowned Sparrow 7 (2)
Dark-eyed Junco 10 (3)
Northern Cardinal 61 (8)
Red-winged Blackbird 420 (8)
Eastern Meadowlark 12 (3)
Rusty Blackbird 117 (2)
Common Grackle 68 (4)
House Finch 5 (4)
House Sparrow 3
Frederick D. Atwood fredatwood@xxxxxxxxx
Flint Hill School, 10409 Academic Dr, Oakton, VA 22124
703-242-1675
http://www.agpix.com/fredatwood
http://www.flinthill.org
http://tea.armadaproject.org/tea_atwoodfrontpage.html
