Despite dubious weather I decided to search along the Potomac for ducks and
geese this morning. Starting at Belmont Bay at 8:30, I stopped also at
Pohick Bay, Riverside Park, several pullouts along the GW Parkway and ended
at Belle View.
Belmont Bay at 8:30 had at least 6,000 ducks within what would normally be
good viewing range, but unfortunately it also had a bit of fog. The numbers
below reflect the 2,000+ ducks that were closest.
Canada goose 300
Tundra swan 28
Gadwall 20
Mallard 3
Northern Shoveler 4
Ring-necked duck 600
Greater scaup 200 (this is an extrapolation from the very
closest)
Lesser scaup 800 (total of about 1000 scaup, estimated 20%
greater)
Bufflehead 10
Hooded Merganser 8
Ruddy ducks 500
American coot 1
Pohick Bay had small numbers of scaup and ruddy ducks. Also it had a group
of 60 pied-billed grebes. This was likely the second largest group of
pied-billed grebes I've seen in this area-the largest being a group of 100
seen from Occoquan a couple of weeks ago with Marc Ribaudo.
Nearby Accotink Bay (from the Pohick parking lot) had a few actual birds and
a fine collection of decoys including excellent examples of canvasbacks and
redheads among others. The nearby hunting blind appeared to be recently
renovated. I didn't bother going through Fort Belvoir security to get a
closer look.
Several stops between Riverside Park and Belle View produced several
hundred more Canada geese and smallish numbers of ducks but no new species
except 2 horned grebes (at Belle View).
As I was walking back toward my car across the lawn at Belle View I heard
American pipits calling and found 4 of them foraging in the grass. Don't
think I've seen pipits at that location before.
Steve Williams
Alexandria, Va
