VA Birders:
Indeed, there is a Prairie Falcon at the Alexandria Power Plant in Alexandria,
Virginia. The bird was observed and photographed by many observers early this
afternoon and was still present when I left at 2PM. The birding was perched on
the beams on the south side of the power plant. It was eating a sparrow. If
you can't immediately locate it, be patient for the bird to periodically take
flight and then return to perch on the side of the power plant.
To reach the power plant in Alexandria, I drove to George Washington Memorial
Parkway and turned east on Bashford Lane which is at the north end of Old Town
Alexandria but south of Dangerfield Island. Driving along Bashford Lane, make
a right (south) on North Royal Street then left (east) on 3rd Street. I parked
at the corner of 3rd Street and North Fairfax Street, walked east across the
railroad tracks to the Mt Vernon bike trail, then north along the bike trail to
the power plant. At the time that I was observing the bird, the best view was
on top of a flat, grassy area along the east fence line of the power plant
(left hand side of the Mt Vernon bike trail as you are walking north). It is
also a good spot to stay out of the heavy traffic of bicyclists and walkers
along the trail.
Below is the eBird checklist plus a link to the photos posted on eBird.
Elton MorelArlington, VA
Alexandria Power Plant, Alexandria, Virginia, US
Mar 25, 2017 12:50 PM - 2:00 PM
Protocol: Stationary
15 species (+1 other taxa)
Lesser Scaup 30
Ruddy Duck 6
Pied-billed Grebe 3
Turkey Vulture 1
Osprey 1
Bald Eagle 1
Mourning Dove 3
Prairie Falcon 1 Continuing bird. Perched on beams on south side of Alexandria
Power Plant; eating a sparrow. Large falcon with medium brown upper parts; no
slaty tones to the upper parts as in PEFA. Thin, brown "moustache". White spot
behind eye. White supercilium. Folded wings noticeably shorter than tail.
Yellow cere. Despite folded wing, can see black flanks on otherwise white under
parts with sparse spotting. The black axillars were seen well when falcon was
in flight (unfortunately no photos of bird in flight).
American Crow 2
Fish Crow 1
crow sp. 3
American Robin 1
Northern Mockingbird 2
European Starling 5
Dark-eyed Junco 1
House Finch 1 heard only
View this checklist online at http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S35418970
This report was generated automatically by eBird v3 (http://ebird.org)
