I had an enjoyable morning at Occoquan, tallying 63 species. At the entrance
gate singing brown thrasher, field sparrow, and fox sparrow got me off to a
good start. A winter wren was singing along the entrance road, and turkeys
were gobbling somewhere west of the parking lot. Rusty blackbirds were also
very vocal. I saw and heard at least 40 around the refuge. The largest flock
(about 20) was around the pond on the other side of the fence along the golf
course, near the club house, but small groups were seen and heard all around
the central marsh. A second thrasher was singing in this area as well. A
hermit thrush was feeding in Easy Rd, and there were 2 snipe in the marsh.
Lesser scaup made up most of the waterfowl in the river, but I also noted
tundra swan, canvasback, ring-necked duck, ruddy duck, bufflehead, and hooded
and red-breasted merganser. Of note were 15 horned grebes in 2 flocks (10 and
5). Ospreys are everywhere, and there were several hundred cormorants in the
river.
The highlight of the morning, though, was a river otter fishing in the marsh
along Deephole Pt. Road. I could follow its movements underwater by watching
the bubbles as it zig-zagged after fish. It was pretty successful, catching 2
fish while I watched. The second was pretty large and the otter dragged it up
on the shore to eat, offering great views.
Marc Ribaudo
Woodbridge, VA
