Hello birders,
Today I spent the morning birding. I spent most of my morning at Occoquan WMA
looking at scaup. There were thousands of lesser scaup and many nice examples
of greater scaup. It was nice to see Marc Ribaudo and talk with him about the
scaup. I also found a canvasback, several redheads, ruddy ducks, bufflehead
and a few horned grebes. Farther from shore was a large raft of red-breasted
mergansers. I was surprised to find my first Osprey of the year. The forests
and fields were quieter than I expected, but I did find a flock of 11 American
tree sparrows. They were on the path and it looked like they were picking up
gravel. It was great to see them out in the open, through my scope. After
Occoquan, I headed over to Veteran's park. I picked up some more duck species:
gadwall, Northern shoveler, green-winged teal, and hooded merganser. At
Leesylvania I found a flock of tundra swans. There weren't very many ducks
there while I was there. Overall, it was a very birdy day. I have included my
list.
Good birding!
Candice Lowther
Bristow, VA
Canada Goose
Tundra Swan
Wood Duck
Gadwall
American Black Duck
Mallard
Northern Shoveler
Green-winged Teal
Canvasback
Redhead
Greater Scaup
Lesser Scaup
Bufflehead
Hooded Merganser
Common Merganser
Red-breasted Merganser
Ruddy Duck
Horned Grebe
Double-crested Cormorant
Great Blue Heron
Turkey Vulture
Osprey
Bald Eagle
Ring-billed Gull
Herring Gull
Great Black-backed Gull
Mourning Dove
Belted Kingfisher
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Downy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Pileated Woodpecker
Blue Jay
American Crow
Fish Crow
Carolina Chickadee
Tufted Titmouse
Carolina Wren
Eastern Bluebird
American Robin
Northern Mockingbird
European Starling
American Tree Sparrow
Field Sparrow
Song Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco
Northern Cardinal
Red-winged Blackbird
Common Grackle
Brown-headed Cowbird
American Goldfinch
House Sparrow
