[va-bird] Weekend Birding/Fairfax County

["Alex Merritt" <cerulean182@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi VAbird,

There was definitely a nice push of migrants this weekend and a few 
interesting breeding birds are around.  On Saturday (4 May) I hit a few 
spots in the eastern part of the county for about 5 hours.  Initially I had 
planned to do a big day, but I just didn't have time.

A stop at Huntley Meadows was fairly productive for shorebirds and whatnot.  
By the way, when was the last time somebody had a King Rail here?  I haven't 
recorded one in quite a while... Highlights were:

Yellow-crowned Night-Heron - 1 bird flying just above the tree line at the 
edge of the marsh
Wood Duck - 2
Greater Yellowlegs - 1
Lesser Yellowlegs - 3
Solitary Sandpiper - 3
Spotted Sandpiper - 2
Least Sandpiper - 4
Barred Owl - a pair dueting mid-morning
Bank Swallow - 2 among the hundreds of other swallows and swifts; a regular 
migrant but not always an easy bird in the county
Cliff Swallow - 1 same story as above
Flycatchers - all the breeders are back in good numbers
Swainson's Thrush - 1
Blue-headed Vireo - 1
Red-eyed Vireo - 9
Black-throated Green Warbler - 2
Blackburnian Warbler - 1
Black-and-white Warbler - 1
Ovenbird - 4

Highlights at Dyke Marsh:
Caspian Tern - 2
Warbling Vireo - 2 or 4 I think there were two separate pairs
Northern Parula - 4
Yellow Warbler - 6
Orchard Oriole - 4
Baltimore Oriole - 3

Highlights at Monticello Park (not in Fairfax):
Veery - 4
Swainson's Thrush - 1
Cedar Waxwing - 6
Red-eyed Vireo - 5
Nashville Warbler - 1
Northern Parula - 4
Chestnut-sided Warbler - 1
Black-throated Blue Warbler - 2
Black-throated Green Warbler - 5
Yellow-rumped Warbler - more than a few
Blackburnian Warbler - 1
Ovenbird - 3
Northern Waterthrush - 1
Scarlet Tanager - 1
Indigo Bunting - 1
Field Sparrow - 1 odd location for one
Baltimore Oriole - 2

Today (5 May) I went out to visit the fields at Lorton for the first time.  
I was quite impressed was the size and variety.  It is too bad that access 
isn't easier.  The highlight for me were the 8-10 Bobolinks at the Nike 
Missile site.  The Eastern Meadowlark was nice as well, and plenty of 
expected things like Indigo Bunting were singing.  This is by far the best 
grassland site I've seen in the county.  I'm sure that Upland Sandpipers 
drop in here during migration from time to time on the short grass fields.  
That would really be an excellent bird for Fairfax (flyovers probably aren't 
that rare in the western part of the county, but I've never really listened 
for them).

As long as I was out that way I decided to stop at Fountain Head park which 
I've never visited before either.  It was the middle of the day, but there 
was still a fair amount of bird song.  The expected breeders were around in 
good numbers: Red-eyed Vireo, one Yellow-throated Vireo, Wood Thrush, 
Acadian Flycatcher, Eastern Wood-Pewee, Ovenbird, No. Parula, Blue-gray 
Gnatcatcher, etc...  The only migrant I had was one Black-throated Green 
Warbler, and a Double-crested Corm on the reservoir was somewhat 
interesting.

Highlights from my yard this week have been:

House Wren - 4/30
Ruby-crowned Kinglet - 5/5, getting late
Wood Thrush - on territory all week
Yellow-throated Vireo - 4/30
Red-eyed Vireo - on territory all week
Chestnut-sided Warbler - 4/30, 5/5
Magnolia Warbler - 5/4
Yellow-rumped Warbler - still passing through in good numbers
Black-throated Green Warbler - 5/2, 5/4
Black-and-white Warbler - 4/30
Ovenbird - 5/1, 5/5
White-throated Sparrow - still passing through in good numbers

Good birding,
Alex

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Alex Merritt
Oak Hill, VA
cerulean182@xxxxxxxxxxx

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[va-bird] Weekend Birding/Fairfax County