Happy November VA-Birders
Yesterday I spent the day in my usual birding spots in King William County
(from Beulahville to The Pocket and around Walkerton in King and Queen County
along the Pamunkey and Mattaponi Rivers of the upper Middle Peninsula, ending
the day overlooking The Pocket of the Pamunkey River as waterfowl flew in for
the night. Most of these areas are in the Walkerton CBC area which is
scheduled for Sunday, Jan 5 this year. Please let me know if you would like to
help out on that count.
I found 76 species, in 9 ebird lists, with the following highlights, in
taxonomic order.
P is The Pocket area including roads, The Pocket at Powhatan's gravesite, and
private Elsing Green. W is Walkerton area including the bridge over the
Mattaponi, roads, and a couple private properties. Wind made passerines
difficult to find most of the day.
"Best" birds were 14 Pectoral Sandpipers, 2 Great Egrets and 1 Marsh Wren all
in the vicinity of The Pocket. The appearance of pipits, pintails, and coots is
also noteworthy.
about 1400 Canada Geese
48 wood duck. P, W
18 gadwall P, W
3 american wigeon W
55 Black Duck P 50, W 5
76 Mallard P,W (also 300 Mallard-type duck silhouettes flying in at nearly-dark)
496 Pintail (490 P, 6 W)
only 1 Green-winged Teal
140 Ring-necked Duck W
60 Ruddy Duck mostly females, P, W, other
3 Bob-whites P
25 Pied-billed Grebe PW
4 Double-crested Cormorant
2 Great Egret P
1 male Northern Harrier, flushing a flock of pipits at P
230 coot P
only 16 Killdeer (only 4 at Woodbury Turf Farm near Walkerton Bridge) 5
locations.
2 Greater Yellowlegs (Woodbury turf farm, and near Beulahville)
14 Pectoral Sandpipers, seems to me to be a high number for so late in the
season, P
1 Woodcock flying at dusk, P
1 Great Horned and 1 Barred Owl calling at dusk P
3 Horned Larks near Beulahville
7 winter wrens (6 at my property Riverwood near Beulahville)
1 Marsh Wren P (my first here)
20 hermit thrushes (18 at Riverwood near Beulahville)
both kinglets 25 golden-crowned and 10 ruby-crowned
No warblers except 24 yellow-rumpeds in 7 out of 9 locations
100 pipits at two locations (60,40) near P
2 Rusty Blackbirds at Riverwood near Beulahville, silent and very secretive
today
18 meadowlarks P
While at The Pocket I had an interesting conversation with Warren Cook of the
Pamunkey tribal council as we listened for Soras (unsuccessfully). He described
how the Pamunkeys used to hunt for Soras (to eat). Fascinating. Let me know if
you want to hear how they did it.
All the best
Fred Atwood
Riverwood, Beulahville, King William Co.
Frederick D. Atwood fredatwood at yahoo dot com
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
