Twelve hearty birders traveled to Dutch Gap Conservation Area in Chesterfield, Va. this morning and we saw 52 species in the swamp and the tidal lagoon. Temperature when we arrived was about 34 degrees but it warmed up nicely to 55 by the time we left about noon. The Monticello Bird Club was also visiting the area.

The list is below as I entered it into eBird. Note that most of the numbers are approximate. I know some of the duck, gull, and Canada Geese numbers are lower than actual.

The bird of the day was the Wilson's Snipe. Many thanks to Lewis Barnett of the Richmond Audubon Society who walked along with us most of the way and alerted us to the snipe when he saw them fly in at the tidal lagoon. I believe everyone got good looks at the snipe through at least one scope.

Other stunners were Wood Ducks in the swamp, Bald Eagle perched in sun on a dead tree, and many Great Blue Herons flying and roosting.

See if you can find all the snipes in this photo (there are five. Click on the photo to make it larger):

Wilson's Snipes (five)

American Kestrel

See more photos, view the list of birds observed, click Read more...

Joe Piotrowski, Shirley Devan, Geoff Giles, Jan Lockwood, and Inge Curtis at Dutch Gap Conservation Area

Ring-neck Ducks

Wilson's Snipe

Northern Shoveler

> Location:     Henricus - Dutch Gap Conservation Area

> Observation date:     1/8/10
> Notes:     Williamsburg Bird Club with 12 participants birded Aikens Swamp and first half mile of trail of Dutch Gap Conservation area.
> Number of species:     52
>
> Canada Goose     76
> Wood Duck     8
> Gadwall     6
> American Wigeon     8
> American Black Duck     2
> Mallard     48
> Northern Shoveler     24
> Northern Pintail     2
> Green-winged Teal     2
> Ring-necked Duck     12
> Double-crested Cormorant     3
> Great Blue Heron     18
> Great Egret     5
> Black Vulture     4
> Turkey Vulture     15
> Bald Eagle     2
> Cooper's Hawk     2
> Red-tailed Hawk     2
> American Kestrel     1
> Killdeer     12
> Wilson's Snipe     10
> Ring-billed Gull     X
> Rock Pigeon     X
> Belted Kingfisher     1
> Red-bellied Woodpecker     2
> Yellow-bellied Sapsucker     3
> Downy Woodpecker     2
> Hairy Woodpecker     1
> Northern Flicker     2
> Pileated Woodpecker     1
> Eastern Phoebe     1
> Blue Jay     2
> American Crow     3
> Carolina Chickadee     6
> Tufted Titmouse     4
> White-breasted Nuthatch     1
> Brown Creeper     1
> Carolina Wren     2
> Golden-crowned Kinglet     1
> Ruby-crowned Kinglet     1
> Eastern Bluebird     12
> Northern Mockingbird     2
> Brown Thrasher     1
> European Starling     16
> Cedar Waxwing     2
> Yellow-rumped Warbler     4
> Song Sparrow     1
> White-throated Sparrow     1
> Dark-eyed Junco     2
> Northern Cardinal     2
> Red-winged Blackbird     12
> House Finch     2
>
> This report was generated automatically by eBird v2(http://ebird.org/VA)