Loudoun Wildlife Conservancy

Andy Rabin led a Loudoun Wildlife Conservancy bird walk at Algonkian Regional Park in eastern Loudoun Co, VA on Saturday morning.  The highlight of the walk, two SURF SCOTERS,  were in the Potomac River (Montgomery Co, MD waters) off of Algonkian’s boat ramp & a little ways downstream.  After studying them for some time in our various scopes and debating what they were we decided on SURF SCOTER.  We got a few photos but they turned out a bit blurry as the birds were far off and we had to hand hold the camera on the scope - I’ll include one here that Ray Smith sent over.

The waterfowl also included four COMMON GOLDENEYES, one male and three females, a flock of nine CANVASBACKS which flew up the river, and several other ducks.  We were also pleased to see a BALD EAGLE, perched above a couple of geese hunters and to find a WINTER WREN.

Andy’s complete list follows:

Canada Goose, Mallard, Canvasback, Ring-necked Duck, SURF SCOTER, Bufflehead, Common Goldeneye, Hooded Merganser, Great Blue heron,Black Vulture, Turkey Vulture, Bald Eagle, Red-shouldered Hawk, Red-tailed Hawk, Ring-billed Gull, Rock Pigeon, Mourning Dove, Red-bellied Woodpecker, Downy Woodpecker, Northern Flicker, Pileated Woodpecker, Blue Jay, American Crow, Fish Crow, Carolina Chickadee, Tufted Titmouse, White-breasted Nuthatch, Carolina Wren, Winter Wren, Golden-crowned Kinglet, Eastern Bluebird, Northern Mockingbird, European Starling, Eastern Towhee, Song Sparrow, White-throated Sparrow, Dark-eyed Junco, Northern Cardinal