VA BIRDers,
Rich Rieger and I went to Occoquan Bay NWR (0810) to check on a few species
for the CBC this coming Sunday. We soon ran into Linda Chittum for a portion
of our trip. We got managed to find a few goodies:
4 Wild Turkeys crossing the road 60 yds from the entrance station
E. Phoebe flying south over the east edge of the parking lot and continuing
south
White-eyed Vireo (with black eyes) about 2/3 of the way to the yellow
port-o-let
Sedge Wren in big weedy field along Charlie Rd
(plus 3 Winter Wrens, 2 Hermit Thrush, 5 Cedar Waxwings, 8 Yellow-rumped
Warblers, 2 Eastern Towhees, 8 Field Sp, 40 Song Sp, 20 Swamp Sp, 25
White-thr Sp)
3 American Tree Sparrows along Bayview Rd nr the parking lot (late AM)
2 Savannah Sparrows along Charlie Rd
4 Fox Sparrows at intersection of Bayview, Charlie and Locust Rds
5 White-crowned Sparrows along Bayview Rd nr the parking lot (late AM)
We looked at gulls and ducks from Occoquan Marina but nothing unusual.
We then went to Neabsco Cr, the Blackburn Rd portion. We quickly found the
Clay-colored Sparrow and needed about 15 more minutes to find the Lincoln's
Sparrow. Also notable at this location were: Lesser Black-backed Gull,
American Tree Sparrow, and White-crowned Sparrow. We missed the Chipping
Sparrow and so we were denied a January Dozen Northern Virginia winter
sparrows (we observed 11 species).
Kurt Gaskill
