VA BIRDers,
I visited a few piedmont locations today, starting off (6am) at Sully
Woodlands, a new Fairfax Co Park just off Pleasant Valley on the western
edge of the county. Highlights here were gobbling Wild Turkey, an American
Woodcock giving one last "peent" as it slunked into the edge and 2 Northern
Harriers. I then drove north to Beaverdam Reservoir where the highlight was
a Horned Grebe on the lake plus all 3 merganser species and an adult Bald
Eagle chasing a second summer Bald Eagle. After leaving, I drove past
Dulles Wetlands and saw a fine puddle duck show which included No. Pintail
and No. Shoveler. One adult Bald Eagle was in the nest. I went north and
spent nearly 3 hours in the Lucketts area which was great fun. Highlight
here was a single Cackling Goose mixed in with ca. 300 Canada Geese on a
Montressor Rd pond. Also noted Red-tailed Hawk do nest work, many
White-crowned Sparrows and a few Horned Larks and Tree Swallows, the latter
were often near Roger Clapp's next boxes. On the way home, the ponds in the
front of the old World Com office building near the Loudoun County Parkway
held 13 stunning Redheads! (Excellent photo op!) I should also add that
Song Sparrows were clearly conspicuous both in song and flying across
fields, etc. The combined list is below.
Kurt Gaskill
Cackling Goose 1
Canada Goose 1725
Wood Duck 7
Gadwall 12
American Wigeon 4
Am. Black Duck 10
Mallard 37
No. Shoveler 2
No. Pintail 4
Green-winged Teal 29
Redhead 13
Ring-necked Duck 60
Bufflehead 7
Hooded Merganser 4
Common Merganser 17 - one was in Goose Cr just west of Rt 17
Red-breasted Merganser 4
Ruddy Duck 3
Wild Turkey 2
No. Bobwhite 1, Lucketts
Horned Grebe 1
Great Blue Heron 1
Black Vulture 8
Turkey Vulture 18
Bald Eagle 3
No. Harrier 3
Cooper's Hawk 1
Red-shouldered Hawk 11
Red-tailed Hawk 21
American Kestrel 4
Am. Coot 6, Dulles Wetlands
Killdeer 15, present somewhere at most destinations
Am. Woodcock 1
Ring-billed Gull 246, biggest numbers on Beaverdam Reservoir
Herring Gull 24, only at Beaverdam Reservoir
Rock Pig 3
Mourning Dove 27
Belted Kingfisher 1
Red-bellied WP 4
Downy WP 5
No. Flicker 5
Pileated WP 4
E. Phoebe 3
Blue Jay 27
Am. Crow 19
Fish Crow 56
Common Raven 3, one at Dulles Wetlands and 2 at Lucketts near some cattle
Tree Swallow 6
C. Chickadee 15
T. Titmouse 9
White-breasted Nuthatch 3
C. Wren 15
RC Kinglet 3
E. Bluebird 25+
Am. Robin 140
No. Mockingbird 11
E. Starling 168
Yellow-rumped Warbler 1
E. Towhee 2
Field Sp 9
Fox Sp 6
Song Sp 103
Swamp Sp 4
White-throated Sp 43
White-crowned Sp 15
DE Junco 41
No. Cardinal 55
Red-winged BB 83
E. Meadowlark 11
Common Grackle 180
Brown-headed Cowbird 23
House Finch 22
Am. Goldfinch 5
House Sparrow 5
You are subscribed to VA-BIRD. To post to this mailing list, simply send email
to va-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx. To unsubscribe, send email to
va-bird-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with 'unsubscribe' in the Subject field.
