VA BIRDers,
I got out a bit late today looking for a few migrants and I can confidently
add at least one species to the species mix reported in No. Virginia today -
FOS Pectoral Sandpiper on the mudflats of Quantico Cr, looking quite sharp
and spiffy for the total of 5 seconds I had the little beastie in the scope!
The following are a few more notables today, most of which have been
reported by others.
I started at Dyke Marsh about 8 am and 2 Northern Shovelers were good for
this location in March. Horned and Red-necked Grebes in attendance, too, as
noted by Larry Cartwright. I went south on the GW Parkway and, after
passing Mt Vernon and its confusing road directions for neophytes, I had to
hit the breaks to avoid hitting an obviously drunk (or very disturbed) Wild
Turkey crossing the road (sort of, it would stop and run and stop and..).
Whew! I was glad when I got on southbound Rt 1 with all its sane and
courteous drivers!
Next stop was Belmont Bay Marina (Pr Wm Co) which had notables of 2 Redhead,
1800 Lesser Scaup, 3 Greater Scaup, 3 Pied-billed Grebes, 9 Horned Grebes, 4
Red-necked Grebes, 17 Osprey and 3 Tree Swallows. OK, not alot of the
swallows there. So, I continued south to Neabsco Creek where I finally met
up with 3 Northern Rough-winged Swallows. Other notables were Northern
Harrier (female), a nice group of 58 Wilson Snipe (please folks, the plural
is snipe), an amazing 170 Herring Gulls with no other big larid in
attendance, a few more Tree Swallows, and a fine group of 28 Rusty
Blackbirds feeding on the lawn next to the Julie Metz parking lot.
It was in the latter half of the morning when I started driving east on
Possum Point Rd. The Pectoral Sandpiper joined 64 other species here which
included the following notables: 6 American Wigeon (my only wigeon of the
day), 6 Northern Pintails (ditto), another Horned - Red-necked Grebe Duo,
adult Bald Eagles standing in both nests (hatchlings?), Cooper's Hawks, the
Peregrine asserting air dominance when two Osprey flew too close to HIS
smokestack, 3 Greater Yellowlegs, only 6 Eastern Phoebes, and another Rusty
BB.
After a hearty "south-of-the-border" meal, I went north on Rt 1 to Occoquan
Bay NWR. Along the way was Veteran's Park which had 6 more Northern
Shovelers. Marc Ribaudo's note related the interesting species there and my
only addition is Purple Martin. Also noted were at least 1500 Lesser Scaup
(or scaup spuh for the purists) south of the refuge. Let me note that,
after scaup, the most numerous waterfowl for me were Bufflehead with at
least 50 here.
I continued north and did not find much new. Pohick Park (Frfx Co) added
the continuing Forster's Tern but I could locate only 2 Red-necked Grebes.
I took a look inside and outside the Great Marsh of Mason Neck - no swans -
but about 3000 scaup and another 25 or so Bufflehead. Plus another 60 Am.
Black Ducks and a Sharp-shinned Hawk.
And that was that - I was too pooped to go on and so I managed only 89
species.
Kurt Gaskill
