Good day all,
We had one hardy soul join us for our Audubon Society of Northern Virginia
sponsored walk at Riverbend Park (Fairfax County) this morning. It was 21F and
sunny. During much of our walk, the wooded trail along the river protected us
from the wind. The big surprise was the ice on the river. When I checked the
river on Friday, it was ice free. This morning, the current was carrying ice
covering up to 3/4 of the water. In areas where the current was slower, the ice
was already covering the river. The ice was heavier the closer it got to the
Maryland shore. The benefit was the ducks and geese were much closer to the
Virginia shore. Even though the numbers have been declining over the past 10
days or so, we did find a good number of species. We started at the boat ramp
and walked down river and then up river to the intersection of the river trail
with the trail to the Nature Center. Here's our list:
Canada Goose--up and down the river.
Gadwall--2
American Wigeon--6
American Black Duck--2
Mallard--10 or so
Redhead--8 (the numbers are much reduced from a couple of weeks ago)
Ring-necked Duck--75
Bufflehead--up and down the river
Hooded Merganser--5
Common Merganser--11 (much reduced over the past couple of weeks)
Pied-billed Grebe--5
Great Blue Heron--1
Ring-billed Gull--5
Red-bellied Woodpecker--3
Downy Woodpecker--2
Pileated Woodpecker--1 (H)
Carolina Chickadee
Tufted Titmouse
White-breasted Nuthatch
Carolina Wren--seen and heard
Eastern Bluebird--6
Song Sparrow--2
Jay and Carol Hadlock
Herndon, VA
