MDOspreyers and VA BIRDers,

 

Brief Summary of the Ft Belvoir CBC, 106th CBC season, 31 Dec 05, Kurt
Gaskill compiler

 

Saturday, Dec 31, the Ft Belvoir CBC was held and, based upon current
reports, 116 species were tallied.  Top highlight was a Brown-headed
Nuthatch found by Jay Keller and Mike Friedman at Occoquan Regional Park,
Fairfax Co (accessed by Rt 123 "Ox Road").  This is the first occurrence of
this species to the count and probably represents an extreme northern limit
for this species in recent times.

 

Rare species found (recorded 5 times or less in 20 yrs for this CBC) were:
Cackling Goose in the Lorton area of Fairfax Co and first record for the
count (due to a recent split, this species is likely to have been present in
the past, but precise records were not kept); Common Raven also in the
Lorton area of Fairfax Co and the second record for this count in 20 yrs
(the first was last year at a location ca. 4 miles SE); Baltimore Oriole
reported in the Fort Hunt area (coming to a feeder) and in Maryland and the
second record; Peregrine Falcon at Fort Belvoir Accotink Bay, Fairfax Co and
fourth record; and Marsh Wren at Jackson Abbott Wildlife Refuge, Fairfax Co
and the fifth record.

 

Species tallied that are difficult to find (when present!) in and near the
count circle in winter (6 to 17 times in 20 yrs) were Merlin in Maryland
(7), Black-crowned Night-Heron at Occ. Bay NWR, Prince William Co  (10),
Blue-winged Teal at Huntley Meadows and the Great Marsh of Mason Neck,
Fairfax Co  (10), Greater Yellowlegs at the Great Marsh and Pohick Cr (10),
Lesser Black-backed Gull at Neabsco Creek, Prince William Co (10), Horned
Lark at Lorton-Fairfax Co landfill (10), Pine Warlbler at Pohick Regional
Park, Fairfax Co (10), Wild Turkey in various forested locations (12), King
Rail at Occ. Bay NWR (12), Laughing Gull off Fort Hunt, Fairfax Co on the
Potomac and Neabsco Cr  (13), House Wren in Maryland (16), Pine Siskin at
Sandy Run Regional Park, Fairfax Co  (16), American Pipits on the
Lorton-Fairfax landfill (17) and Brown Thrasher (17) at various locations.

 

Species found that are of interest and generally hard to find but usually
present this time of year somewhere in the CBC circle were: Common Loon, No.
Bobwhite (just 1, Occ Bay NWR), American Woodcock (2 were displaying at
Occ.Bay NWR), Boneparte's Gull, Red-headed WP (Mason Neck and Maryland),
Red-breasted Nuthatch (many locations), Gray Catbird (many locations), Fox
Sparrow (many locations), White-crowned Sparrow (Lorton) and Purple Finch
(many locations).

 

Biggest misses were Horned Grebe (17) and Rusty Blackbird (20).

 

At this time I wish to gratefully thank the Sector Leaders without whose
effort this CBC could not be done.  Thank you Georg Morduck, Mary-Carroll
Potter, PJ Dunn, Sherman Suter, Greg Fleming, Bart Hutchinson, Mary Alice
Koeneke, Larry Brindza, Jim Waggener, Marc Ribaudo, Carol Ghebelian, and
Rich Rieger.

 

And, I must thank the hundred plus volunteers who turned out and made this
one of the best counts of all time.  The results from this CBC are due
solely to your contributions - this is one of the top CBCs in the country
because of YOU!  Thank you, thank you!

 

I will post a full summary when all the tally sheets area submitted and
compiled.

 

Wishing you all good birds in 2006!

 

Kurt Gaskill