FreeLists / va-bird / [va-bird] Banshee Reeks & Beaverdam Reservoir, Loudoun Co

["Joe Coleman" <joecolem@xxxxxxxxx>]

Eight people showed up for this morning's bird walk at Banshee Reeks.
Because it is open 7 days a week from dawn to dusk and doesn't require
any kind of permission in contrast to the main part of the Banshee
Reeks Nature Preserve, we decided to visit the hiking/equestrian trail
on the Marcum Tract section of Banshee Reeks (it also borders the
County Landfill).  Bob Abrams and Yusef Gantt have birded this area
and the landfill for the Central Loudoun CBC the last couple of years
and found the 4-mile trail somewhat productive and we thought it would
be worth checking out because of Banshee's overly restrictive access
policies.  It includes a couple of ponds, some small wetlands, mature
forest, a white pine plantation, and open pastureland.   While the
landfill is not open to birders without permission that needs to be
requested ahead of time, that isn't true for the trail, itself.  A
couple of people birded the close-by Dulles Greenway Wetlands
Mitigation Project (DGWMP) prior to our meeting and saw a couple of
AMERICAN TREE SPARROWS and two BALD EAGLES, one on the nest though we
don't think they are sitting on eggs yet.  After we left the Marcum
Tract we visited the close-by Beaverdam Reservoir's western side.  The
reservoir was mostly frozen with a surprisingly small amount of open
water compared to previous visits I've made during cold winters.

The trail head for the Marcum Tract is at a parking lot on the north
side of The Woods Road where it intersects with Evergreen Mill Rd and
is a mile south of the entrance to the Landfill on Evergreen Mill Rd.
The parking lot is large enough to accommodate horse trailers.    When
the weather is better it is likely that you would share the trail with
riders and lots of ticks.

The highlights of the walks included a group of 5 (five) PIED-BILLED
GREBES at Beaverdam, 2 BALD EAGLES at Beaverdam, one a subadult
sitting on the ice next to a rather nervous flock of Canada Geese, 9
(NINE!) NORTHERN FLICKERS sitting in the same small tree at the Marcum
Tract, an EASTERN PHOEBE on the edge of the pine plantation at the
Marcum Tract, 4 RAVENS on the Marcum Tract and 2 at Beaverdam, and a
single AMERICAN TREE SPARROW at Beaverdam.

One of the RAVENS near the Landfill fascinated us by eating while
flying.  While we watched it took food out of its mouth a couple of
times, held it in its talons, and then placed it back in its mouth.
We also spent some time watching a large group of WHITE-BREASTED
NUTHATCHES, at least 8, gleaning the pine cones in a grove of Virginia
Pines near the entrance to Banshee Reeks, itself.

Birds seen at Banshee & Beaverdam (where there is a second #, it is
Beaverdam Reservoir):
Pied-billed Grebe 0/5
Great Blue Heron 0/1
Black Vulture  12
Turkey Vulture  13
Canada Goose 50/over 500
Am Black Duck  1
Mallard 16
Bald Eagle 2
Cooper's Hawk  1
Red-tailed Hawk  1/1
Ring-billed Gull  150/200
Herring Gull  5/25
Mourning Dove  2
Red-bellied Woodpecker  3
Downy Woodpecker  3/1
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker 2
Northern Flicker 9/1
Pileated Woodpecker  1
Eastern Phoebe  1
Blue Jay 15
American Crow  25
Fish Crow  2
Common Raven 4/2
Carolina Chickadee  6
Tufted Titmouse  4
White-breasted Nuthatch  12
Brown Creeper  2
Golden-crowned Kinglet  2
Eastern Bluebird 0/2
American Robin 12
Northern Mockingbird 5/2
European Starling  25
Eastern Towhee  1
American Tree Sparrow 1
Field Sparrow 5
Song Sparrow  8/2
Swamp Sparrow 1
White-throated Sparrow 12/4
Dark-eyed Junco  20
Northern Cardinal 2
House Finch  9
Am Goldfinch  1

Joe Coleman
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