On Saturday I spent the morning in King George Co near Sealston and Dogue at
the various ponds. I spent the afternoon in Westmoreland Co at Washington's
Birthplace, Muse Rd (near Horner's Beach) and Leedstown. I found 90 species but
nothing very unusual.
Here are the the highlights.
1. En route in Stafford Co a flock of 27 turkeys was along route 3 in a farm
field at the sign for Duff McDuff park.
2. The most abundant bird today was Ring-necked Duck, totaling 5070 birds
(compared to 3640 canada geese) all in King George, 3800 at LaGrange Lane.
3. Good diversity of waterfowl including 87 tundra swan (King George, but none
at Washingtons Birthplace), over 800 ruddy ducks (females were more than twice
as abundant as males in the King George Ponds, but males outnumbered females
(3:1) near the Potomac at Washingtons Birthplace Popes Creek. In the Potomac,
they were too far out to determine but it looked like a lot more males than
females), hooded mergansers (a few males were displaying), 36 surf scoters, 8
long-tailed ducks, 8 goldeneyes, and 5 black scoters (a good number for this
far upriver)at Birthplace/Muse, a redhead and several canvasbacks near
Sealston, gadwalls, american wigeons, green-winged teals, mallard, black,
shoveler, lesser scaup, and 1 wood duck. There were also 48 pied billed grebes
and 40 coot mostly in King George.
4. The Potomac had a couple common loons and 1 red-throated loon but no horned
grebes at Birthplace/Muse
5. Shorebirds included 7 dunlin near Dogue, a woodcock and 2 snipe in
Leedstown, and 199 killdeer, about 130 of which were in a farm field along
route 3 across from Farley Vale Farm.
6. Nine Bonaparte's Gulls mostly near Dogue.
7. There were also 28 bald eagles, many of them pairs sitting very close
together on trees or hunting blinds. In the farm field at the end of Muse Rd
were two adult birds flopped on the ground that seemed to be entangled with
each other by their talons, though I could not see their legs. They just sat
there, with me not far away. Occasionally one would flap a wing as if it was
trying to get free to leave. I called a raptor rehabber but after about 45
minutes the eagles disentangled and flew off, seemingly OK. I have heard of
reports where they have to be rescued and disentangled by rehabbers, sometimes
requiring other medical care.
8. The owner of a Leedstown farm said some hunters saw the sandhill cranes
again but he wasn't sure what day in the past week or two. There was no sign
of them anywhere in the area today. I am still wondering where they are when
they are not in this farm (which is only occasionally). I have not looked on
the other side of the Rappahannock in Essex Co and there is a lot of
inaccessible good habitat in the area in Westmoreland too. Wouldn't it be nice
if they showed up on the CBC?
9. A spectacular sunset with a hooting great horned owl, mewing catbirds, and
sweetly-singing white-crowned sparrows, and with hundreds of silhouetted
unidentifiable ducks flying into Drake's Marsh in Leedstown.
All the best
Fred Atwood
