Yesterday Oct 11, I spent the day in King William County, the first several
hours at a 72 acre private nature reserve along the upper Mattaponi R in
Beulahville (Riverwood) and finishing the day at the Pamnukey R at The Pocket
(Pamunkey Indian Reservation) and Elsing Green (private). Highlights were a
flock of 16 Snow Geese at The Pocket (a bigger flock--and earlier-- than the
normal 1-4 birds that occasionally show up), a merlin perched out in the open
overlooking the Pamunkey just 100 yards from a beautiful Lincoln's Sparrow who
alerted me to his presence by his characteristic chip note (Elsing Green), my
first white-throated sparrows and yellow-bellied sapsuckers of the season
(Riverwood), and large numbers of raucous Canada Geese flying into the Pocket
during another absolutely gorgeous sunset that tinged the sky pink and red from
horizon to horizon. What an inspiring sight and sound! During the day while
the egrets were scattered
feeding among the Spatterdock it was hard to count how many there were. I only
noted about 5. But then at dusk they all gathered to roost on the hunting
blinds and scattered posts and I counted 36 of them. Other notes of interest
were the arrival of many yellow-rumped warblers and both kinglets, a greater
than normal number of phoebes and flickers, the eating of musclewood seeds by
cardinals, a good number of red-headed woodpeckers at Elsing Green (all
scattered individuals), the near absence of red-eyed vireos and indigo
buntings, the absence of black vultures and song sparrows, and one each of the
following: yellow-billed cuckoo, swamp sparrow, baltimore oriole, blue-headed
vireo, ovenbird, and magnolia warbler. Everytime I put my binoculars up to look
at a raptor I saw lots of swallows flying around. Before sunset thay came down
lower perhaps feeding on the swarms of very tiny flies over the farm fields of
Elsing Green then went down to The
Pocket, splashed into the water to drink/bathe on-the-wing, and continued on
downriver to I-wonder-where. Every swallow I saw or heard well enough to
identify was a tree swallow and I estimated about 7500 of them passing over my
head down to The Pocket.
I have pasted the total list from eBird below, adjusted for any possible
double-counting.
All the best
Fred
Snow Goose
16
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Canada Goose
3,115
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Wood Duck
58
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American Black Duck
8
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Mallard
9
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Northern Pintail
70
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Green-winged Teal
11
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Pied-billed Grebe
2
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Great Blue Heron
6
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Great Egret
36
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Turkey Vulture
31
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Bald Eagle
7
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Northern Harrier
2
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Cooper's Hawk
1
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Red-shouldered Hawk
2
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Red-tailed Hawk
2
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Merlin
1
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Killdeer
12
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Forster's Tern
2
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Mourning Dove
54
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Yellow-billed Cuckoo
1
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Belted Kingfisher
3
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Red-headed Woodpecker
8
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Red-bellied Woodpecker
17
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Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
6
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Downy Woodpecker
2
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Hairy Woodpecker
5
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Northern Flicker
38
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Pileated Woodpecker
4
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Eastern Phoebe
13
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Blue-headed Vireo
1
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Red-eyed Vireo
1
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Blue Jay
31
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American Crow
32
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Tree Swallow
7,515
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Carolina Chickadee
10
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Tufted Titmouse
20
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White-breasted Nuthatch
2
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Carolina Wren
21
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Golden-crowned Kinglet
5
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Ruby-crowned Kinglet
15
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Eastern Bluebird
14
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Gray Catbird
11
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Northern Mockingbird
5
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Brown Thrasher
7
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Magnolia Warbler
1
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Yellow-rumped Warbler
54
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Pine Warbler
3
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Palm Warbler
2
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Blackpoll Warbler
3
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American Redstart
2
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Ovenbird
1
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Common Yellowthroat
2
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Eastern Towhee
3
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Chipping Sparrow
34
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Field Sparrow
5
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Lincoln's Sparrow
1
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Swamp Sparrow
1
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White-throated Sparrow
4
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Northern Cardinal
30
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Indigo Bunting
1
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Red-winged Blackbird
841
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Baltimore Oriole
1
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American Goldfinch
33
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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
