FreeLists / va-bird / [va-bird] Bird...Song

["Ron Staley" <rmstaley@xxxxxxxxx>]

Just as LauraCatterton and Tom Pendleton were leaving The Parkgate Dr. location 
in Nokesville, I arrived, and thanks
to their tip, was finally able to see the Trumpeter Swan in the stock pond, 
actually
only the head and the upper neck, as the pond has high banks on the road
side and you have to wait until the swan swims near the far shore.  After a
several minute search the White-fronted Goose was also located, in the flock
of Canada Geese.  I  was able to spot it for other birders present thanks to
a small satellite dish mounted on a white fence.   Thanks for modern
technology.
From there I went on to the farm on Fleetwood and scanned the fence line to
the left of the barns, from the small church parking lot.  I found about a
dozen Brewers Blackbirdsont the ground in a flock with Starlings and a few
Rock Doves.  Later in the afternoon around 5:00 PM, I went to Bull Run Post
Office Road and found another birder waiting with scope for the Short-eared
Owls.  As I got out of the car and walked up, the Merlin flew into the field
over the cedars and landed on a favorite perch on a small tree on the ridge
in the field. ( the same limb I saw it on last week)  After a short wait,
two Short-eared Owls appeared from behind the ridge near the transmission
towers and gave us distant and then closer views in front of the ridge
before disappearing behind the ridge and over the cedars along the driveway.
During this time a Northern Harrier also hunted the field and finally
perched in one of the cedars along the drive.
A mid-afternoon concert near Culpeper, with a choir that I belong to, was
squeezed in between these two birding sessions.  It often amuses the choir
members to see me show up for a performance in a suit and tie with my bins
around my neck.  I often combine the two interests if there is a good
birding potential near the location of our performances.

Ron Staley
Herndon, VA


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