I spent the day on Friday from Beulahville to the Pocket in King William Co,
with about an hour mid-day in Walkerton in King and Queen Co. Highlights were
the following:
1. an orange-crowned warbler in the thicket along Pocket Rd just before the
last two houses on the right
2. 3 western sandpipers on a log out in the Pocket. The river levels were very
high and there was no exposed shoreline anywhere. There were also 7 snipes on
various bushes and logs on what is usually a mud-bar.
3. 4 great egrets roosting on a blind at dusk in The Pocket
4. thousands of mallard-type ducks swarming across the midnight-blue and orange
sky at dusk, as Jupiter with its line of moons shone brightly over the Pocket;
small numbers of waterfowl seen when the light levels enabled identification
included pintail, gw teal, shoveler, mallard, black, ring-necked, wood duck, 5
tundra swan, hooded merganser, ruddy duck, 70 coot, and 13 pb grebe. I am
always amazed at dusk to see how many waterfowl had been tucked away in hidden
marshes out of sight.
5. 25-30 hermit thrushes at Riverwood in Beulahville
6. several hundred ring-necked ducks and 8 redheads in walkerton, along with
gadwall, wigeon, gw teal, shoveler, lesser scaup, mallard, and black duck
7. fewer than expected winter wren (2), sapsucker (2), killdeer (2) horned lark
(2), and yellow-rumped warbler (5 or so)
8. 5 turkeys enjoying the sunset in the tree tops while a barred owl hooted,
geese honked, ducks quacked, and waterfowl wings wooshed at the Pocket.
All the best
fred
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
