Yesterday Dec 15 was the George Washington's
Birthplace Christmas Bird Count, organized and
compiled by Bill Portlock. I do not have the
complete list and not all sectors had reported
yesterday, but Bill said 103 species were
reported during our compilation dinner last
night. Here are a few of the highlights:
--Nearly 4000 cedar waxwings. Are other CBCs
finding a similar huge increase in them this
year?
--Over 1000 surf scoters, a big number for this
part of the Potomac, and a few white-winged
scoters, not seen very often in this part of the
Potomac. 1 surf scoter was also in the
Rappahannock R, an unusual location.
--a flock of 650 horned larks with at least 16
lapland longpsurs mixed among them in a
recently-harvested broccoli farm in Leedstown. I
scanned for over an hour to try to find snow
buntings too, but found none.
--65 pipits. I was surpised that these were not
mixed in with the larks, but were in different
fields that were not as open. One field had rows
of sunflowers and weeds and the other had short
grass and other plants. They were invisible until
they flew up when I pished to find out what
sparrows were present.
--a short-eared owl at Mothershead (RapRivValNWR)
--a pair of barn owls in a silo in Leedstown
--a clay-colored sparrow with a flock of field
sparrows, probably the same bird that was
reported on Oct 28 in Leedstown in the exact same
spot, probably with the same flock of field
sparrows.
--several pine siskins, purple finches,
red-breasted nuthatches, and rusty blackbirds
--a woodcock
--a few pine warblers and catbirds
--lots of bald eagles (something like 100?)
-- low numbers of kestrels, bobwhites, and great
blue herons
--no chipping sparrow, fox sparrow, or barred owl
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
