Dear VA Birders
After traveling to the ponds along route 3 in
King George with the Nolan Brit and the Northern
Virginia Teen Bird Club on Saturday AM, I
returned for the day to King George and
Westmoreland counties on Sunday. With the teens
we had 52 species including 32 raptors of 6
species as well as a nice flock of 21 pipits
flying over, large flocks of ring-necked ducks,
and the wonderful sound of singing white-crowned
sparrows.
On Sunday I spent three hours at King George
ponds, then made brief stops at Toby's Point on
the Rappahannock (RapRivValNWR) in King George,
and in Westmoreland County Washington's
Birthplace, nearby Muse Rd (route 624) and
Westmoreland State Park, finishing at three
private properties in Leedstown totalling 96
species.
The most productive of these ponds in King George
are also the only ones accessible to the public.
They are on LaGrange Lane. These ponds were
chock-full of ring-necked ducks, laughing gulls,
ruddy ducks, coots, and other waterfowl including
pied-billed grebes, gadwalls, hooded mergansers,
american wigeon, canvasback, bufflehead, gw teal,
shoveler, etc. Often the eagles pester the
waterfowl or a harrier flies by (We had a gray
ghost with the teens on Sat) Make sure you stay
off the grass when you visit here.
Highlights on Sunday included lots of waterfowl
in King George and Leedstown, 3 Virginia Rails
calling at dusk in Leedstown along the
Rappahannock River, and fly-over purple finches
and pine siskin. A horned grebe, a few
goldeneyes, some greater scaup and significant
number of buffleheads and loons were present on
the Potomac visible from Muse Rd, Washington's
Birthplace, and Westmoreland State Park.
Report Details: Totals from eBird
Total # of Checklists: 7
Location(s): George Washington Birthplace
National Monument; King George ponds; Leedstown
area; Muddy Creek; Tobys Point and Wilmont Rd;
Westmoreland State Park
Number of Species 96
Number of Individuals 11,425
Number of Checklists 7
Snow Goose 1 imm Snow KG ponds
Canada Goose 3,200
Tundra Swan 14: 6 KG ponds, 8 Birthplace
Wood Duck 68 (66 were in Muddy Creek along
route 3 at the border of King George and Stafford
at 7:15AM)
Gadwall 68
American Wigeon 14
American Black Duck 16
Mallard 178 (mostly in Leedstown; in addition,
550 unidentified ducks flew into Drake's Marsh
here at dusk, mostly sounding like Mallards)
Northern Shoveler 2 KG ponds
Green-winged Teal 48; KG pond(8); Leedstown (40)
Canvasback 5 KG ponds
Ring-necked Duck 3,820 all at KG ponds (80%
male)
Greater Scaup 20 Birthplace
Lesser Scaup 2 KG ponds
Bufflehead 280 KG ponds(30) and Potomac(250)
Common Goldeneye 8 Birthplace
Hooded Merganser 18 KG ponds
Ruddy Duck 527 mostly KG ponds
Red-throated Loon 29 Potomac sites
Common Loon 23 Potomac sites; inaddition there
were 9 loons too far out to be identified
Pied-billed Grebe 18 KG ponds
Horned Grebe 1 Birthplace
Double-crested Cormorant 49
Great Blue Heron 9
Black Vulture 10
Turkey Vulture 31
Bald Eagle 16
Northern Harrier 6
Sharp-shinned Hawk 1 4 on Sat with teens
Coopers Hawk 1 on Saturday on road with teens
Red-shouldered Hawk 4
Red-tailed Hawk 10 14 on Saturday with teens
American Kestrel 3
Virginia Rail 3 Leedstown
American Coot 310 KG ponds
Killdeer 1 KG ponds
Greater Yellowlegs 1 KG ponds
Wilson's Snipe 1 Leedstown fly in at dusk
Laughing Gull 250 KG ponds(2500 on Sat with
teens)
Ring-billed Gull 77
Herring Gull 22 mostly Potomac
Great Black-backed Gull 12 Potomac
Forster's Tern 2 Potomac
Royal Tern 1 Rappahannock in Leedstown
Rock Pigeon 3 (~30 on Sat with teens) KG ponds
Mourning Dove 114
Great Horned Owl 1 Leedstown at dusk
Barred Owl 1 Leedstown at dusk
Belted Kingfisher 2 (another at KG ponds on Sat)
Red-bellied Woodpecker 3
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker 7
Downy Woodpecker 10
Hairy Woodpecker 2
Northern Flicker 20
Pileated Woodpecker 1
Eastern Phoebe 1
Blue Jay 29
American Crow 54
Horned Lark 6
Carolina Chickadee 11
Tufted Titmouse 15
Red-breasted Nuthatch 1(+1 at KG ponds on Sat)
White-breasted Nuthatch 1
Brown Creeper 4
Carolina Wren 31
House Wren 1 Leedstown
Winter Wren 3
Golden-crowned Kinglet 14
Ruby-crowned Kinglet 10
Eastern Bluebird 47
Hermit Thrush 7
American Robin 51
Gray Catbird 4 (+1 at KG ponds on Sat)
Northern Mockingbird 17
Brown Thrasher 1
European Starling 60
American Pipit 7 (+21 at KG ponds on Sat)
Cedar Waxwing 65 KG ponds
Yellow-rumped Warbler 51
Eastern Towhee 4
Chipping Sparrow 18
Field Sparrow 23
Savannah Sparrow 53
Song Sparrow 90
Swamp Sparrow 38
White-throated Sparrow 45
White-crowned Sparrow 24 (+10 at KG ponds on Sat)
Dark-eyed Junco 78
Northern Cardinal 46
Red-winged Blackbird 705
Eastern Meadowlark 53
Common Grackle 309
Brown-headed Cowbird 3
Purple Finch 3 KG ponds fly-over calling
House Finch 17
Pine Siskin 1 KG ponds fly-over calling
American Goldfinch 87
All the best
Fred
Frederick D. Atwood fredatwood@xxxxxxxxx
Flint Hill School, 10409 Academic Dr, Oakton, VA 22124
703-242-1675
http://www.agpix.com/fredatwood
http://www.flinthill.org
http://tea.armadaproject.org/tea_atwoodfrontpage.html
