I spent the early morning at Meadowood Recreation Area, arriving just before
sunup at 5:45. There was a good amount of bird activity, with the highlight
being a Great Horned Owl that flew out of the woods, banked a few times over
the fields then exited off into the woods on the far side of the field.
Several bluebirds were singing along with Song and field sparrows and a single
eastern meadowlark. I also startled a lone wood duck that was roosting in the
small pond.
I then went down to Occoquan NWR, the first ten minutes were outstanding, with
song, field, fox, white throated, white crowned sparrows, and a towhee in the
fields and grass near the parking lot. I ran into white crowned sparrows at
two other locations as well. Raptors were also present: northern harrier,
cooper's, red tailed, red shouldered, osprey, and bald eagles. Osprey activity
is picking up with a good amount of nest building taking place. I found 6
rusty blackbirds at the beginning of easy road.
Low numbers of ducks: a raft of lesser scaup, bufflehead, and a flock of
woodies, a single female common merganser and a pie billed grebe. I also saw
a flock of tundra swans headed... south(?)
The one that got away: I saw a large tern on the river -- early? Didn't get a
good enough look to confirm Caspian's but that was my gut sense. It went past
so quick -- it didn't register until it was gone. I'd be interested in hearing
if anyone else spotted a tern this morning.
The White Crowneds were nice enough to pose in the sun so I've posted some
pictures of them:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/73831614@N00/sets/72157629554499831/
Bill
I totaled 50 species between the two sites:
Canada Goose
Tundra Swan
Wood Duck
Lesser Scaup
Bufflehead
Common Merganser
Pied-billed Grebe
Great Blue Heron
Turkey Vulture
Osprey
Bald Eagle
Northern Harrier
Cooper's Hawk
Red-shouldered Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
Ring-billed Gull
Herring Gull
Mourning Dove
Great Horned Owl
Belted Kingfisher
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Downy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Blue Jay
American Crow
Fish Crow
Tree Swallow
Carolina Chickadee
Tufted Titmouse
Carolina Wren
Eastern Bluebird
American Robin
Northern Mockingbird
European Starling
Eastern Towhee
Chipping Sparrow
Field Sparrow
Savannah Sparrow
Fox Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Swamp Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow
White-crowned Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco
Northern Cardinal
Red-winged Blackbird
Eastern Meadowlark
Rusty Blackbird
Common Grackle
House Sparrow
