VA BIRDers,
Nolan Britt, Daniel Sweeney and I counted Area 8, north of the Great Marsh
of Mason Neck and Gunston Cove and also off the Mason Neck Visitor Center.
It was a relatively good day in terms of diversity and numbers of waterfowl.
The biggest surprise was the presence of several Red-breasted Mergansers but
no Common Mergansers. In addition, there were several Common Loons. Later,
I visited the mouth of the Occoquan River near the marina (not part of our
route, but an obvious area to include in the numbers to you as it is just
barely visible from the Visitor Center and contiguous with the Belmont Bay
waterfowl). This latter location added Wood Duck. The waterfowl total was
10,565 birds. We did not make careful notes of passerines during our
travels, but it is remarkable that not one Yellow-rumped Warbler was
observed for the 4.5 hrs we counted. The preliminary totals are listed
below.
Kurt Gaskill
C. Goose 700
Tundra Swan 127
Wood Duck 1
Gadwall 350
Am. Wigeon 68
Am. Black Duck 310
Mallard 252
No. Shoveler 4
No. Pintail 15
Green-winged Teal 7
Canvasback 25
Redhead 3
Ring-necked Duck 84
Greater Scaup 4
Lesser Scaup 5928
Bufflehead 125
Hooded Merganser 44
Red-breasted Merganser 13
Ruddy Duck 1525
Common Loon 5
Pied-billed Grebe 17
Horned Grebe 7
DC Cormorant 1
Am. Coot 950
Boneparte's Gull 1
