Brief Summary of the Fort Belvoir CBC, Dec 31, 2022
kurtc...@verizon.net
Summary of the Fort Belvoir CBC, 31 Dec 2022.
Typically, the bane of every CBC is bad weather – this usually takes the form of cold days, snowy days, rainy days or windy days. Sometimes two or more of those effects are combined making for a really lousy experience. But, for this count, the bane was fog. Thick fog across all bodies of water: river, bay or lake. So thick that observers were unable to see across to the other side; vision was limited to 200 m or so. And with virtually no wind and temperatures that were somewhat low but above freezing the fog lingered all day. This means that water fowl took a hit in the totals. Although numbers were down a bit for most species, none were at historical lows (although Common Goldeneye was missed on count day). One notable example was American Coot, with (un-fogged counts) in Belmont Bay of 2000 to 3000 from 13 to 28 Dec, 6000 on 3 Jan yet only 12 on count day! Also, only 1 Red-breasted Merganser was found.
Despite the challenging fog, our motivated volunteers – 177 in the field and 12 at feeders - recorded 112 species; which is one less than the historical average from 2001 to last year. Several unusual species were found including a first for this CBC: Black-throated Gray Warbler at Colonial Farm, MD (present since Oct 28 and recorded as recently as Jan 21). Other unusual species were an astounding tally of 5 Northern Saw-whet Owls in 3 different locations. One of our Sector Leaders queried Scott Weidensaul on this year’s NSWO migration and got the response “a decent NSWO flight in the East this fall”. Other unusual species were an American Bittern at Burke Lake calling in the fog, 3 Sora in the Pohick Creek marshes, and 4 Pine Warblers at Pohick Regional Park.
As in the CBC two years prior, the Pohick Creek marshes continue to surprise us with wintering rails – 1 VIRA and 3 Sora this year. We plan to continue monitoring this location via boat in future counts (weather willing!).
Other notable species were Cackling Goose at Huntley Meadows, King Rail at Occoquan NWR, 3 Virginia Rails (Mason Neck, Pohick and Piscataway), Laughing and Bonaparte’s Gulls, Common Loon, 3 House Wrens, and 3 Common Yellowthroats. The big finch flight sort of fizzled as only 7 Purple Finch and 2 Pine Siskins were recorded – the latter species coming to a feeder! Yet the Red-breasted Nuthatch number of 74 was a good showing after a great autumn migration and this CBC’s total is nearly equal to the last good CBC on Dec 30, 2018. One has to go back to Jan 2, 1984 to get a comparable number.
In varying numbers, interesting (and nearly routine) wintering species in the area such as American Woodcock, Common Loon, Horned Grebe, Red-headed Woodpecker, Chipping Sparrow, Fox Sparrow and White-crowned Sparrow were recorded. Yet, it was clearly a low count year for many berry-dependent species such as Cedar Waxwings and Yellow-rumped Warblers.
Wild Turkey, Hairy Woodpecker and Pileated Woodpecker set high-count records. In the low-count category, Great Black-backed Gull, with 22 tallied, deserves mention. The closing of local landfills coupled with gull scaring tactics have resulted in reduced numbers, esp. of the larger larids. Fifteen years ago Great Black-backed Gulls were routinely above 200. Will the low trend continue?
I note the Bald Eagles numbers over the last decade or so are approximately constant. The tally this year of 135 (107/24/4 adult/immature/unknown) is typical. Deconfliction was required to achieve this total as about 27% of the sightings were thought to be duplicates.
Count week species are always interesting as it suggests what one might have found under better circumstances. This year the following got the CW nod: Common Goldeneye, Sandhill Crane, Black-crowned Night-Heron, Peregrine and Northern Parula.
Lastly, I am grateful to all the Sector Leaders and volunteers who made this year’s count a success! Kudos to each and every one of them!
Kurt Gaskill, compiler Ft Belvoir CBC