I had a great time birding in the upper Northern Neck and upper Middle
Peninsula today, finding 89 species, including my first osprey of the year, and
a few county life birds. I started at my patch of woods (Riverwood) along the
upper Mattaponi near Beulahville (King William) and then went to The Pocket
(Pamunkey R, King William) and Walkerton Bridge (Mattaponi R, King and Queen).
Then I stopped at Hoskins Creek and the route 360 bridge in Tappahannock
(Rappahannock R, Essex) on the way to the Northern Neck where I birded three
locations in the Leedstown area (Westmoreland) until dark.
Here are the highlights
Riverwood: lots of hermit thrushes (16) and winter wrens (6, including one
singing with gusto). Six rusty blackbirds. Wood ducks. My only sapsucker of the
day. Phoebe. Both kinglets. Brown creeper.
Beulah Baptist Church (Beulahville)
26 wild turkeys in field across the street
The Pocket:
My first Osprey of the year, and the only osprey of the day.
Marsh Wren in the cat-tails by the railroad tracks
90 dunlin roosting with the gulls on the nearly-flooded marsh
73 tundra swans: far side.
several canvasbacks
Almost no geese (100-ish where there are usually thousands). Local farmer says
they leave the area around the full moon in Feb.
Walkerton bridge
My first red-necked grebe for the Mattaponi river. It was downriver from the
bridge.
Private location in Walkerton
149 canvasback, 16 redheads, 142 ring-necked ducks
Tappahannock
Hoskins Creek 320 Lesser Scaup
Rappahannock River at 360 bridge
red-necked grebe (my first for the river I believe) and female white-winged
scoter (county first for me): upriver from the bridge.
279 double-crested cormorants on old pilings
Leedstown Rd
Goose numbers were half of last week and a quarter of the week before, but
there were two Cackling Geese and a blue Snow Goose among the Canadas on the
Rappahannock R.
Lots of red-breasted mergansers in the river (62)
private location in Leedstown
YAY for my first short-eared owl in Westmoreland since winter of 2011-2012.
Flying around and foraging in a long-grass field at 6:10.
Still a few white-crowned sparrows around.
3 Rusty blackbirds
Tons of skittish waterfowl which flushed as soon as they saw my car before I
could get good counts, but lots of gadwalls, mallards, pintails, tundra swans,
shovelers, green-winged teal, american wigeon, as well as some black ducks,
ring-necked ducks, coots,
Mothershead RRVNWR on Liberty Farm Rd, Leedstown
I dashed over here after seeing the short-eared owl on a nearby property since
this is where I used to see them every winter. No luck with them there tonight
but when I got there at 6:22 I was greeted by displaying woodcocks. As I
walked down the road I heard 11 birds peenting, and a minute did not pass by
without the twittering chirps of 1-3 birds doing display flights.
All the best
Fred
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
