Kurt Gaskill and I birded Possum Pt./Cockpit Pt. (known locally as The Point)
and Metz Wetlands this morning. It was a good morning with 78 species tallied.
We started off at the culvert on Possum Pt. Road at 6:45am. Here we enjoyed a
flyover of 28 common loons, in 4 separate waves, and a calling American
Bittern. In Quantico Creek we saw blue-winged and green-winged teal, a flock
of ruddy ducks, 2 horned grebes, 3 pied-billed grebes, rough-winged swallows,
hooded merganser, red-breasted merganser, and greater yellowlegs. Towards the
power plant we heard eastern phoebe, yellow-throated warbler, ruby-crowned
kinglet (lots of kinglets singing at all stops), and hermit thrush and saw
American coot. Along Cockpit Pt. Road we found red-tailed hawk, golden-crowned
kinglet, pine warbler, black and white warbler, yellow-rumped warbler, and
blue-gray gnatcatcher. The eagle nest next to the ash pond contains at least
one chick. On the way back along Possum Pt. Road we picked up palm warbler,
kestrel, barn swallow, and yellow-bellied sapsucker (our 6th woodpecker
species, missing red-headed). We also saw 2 great horned owl chicks. At Metz
Wetlands we added Wilson’s snipe, Cooper’s hawk, and rusty blackbird.
Marc Ribaudo
Woodbridge
