FreeLists / va-bird / [va-bird] Phelps WMA, some Fauquier and Culpeper County misc. 5 May 02

[BlkVulture@xxxxxxx]

Greetings...

Sue Heath and I spent a good portion of Sunday birding the Chester F. Phelps 
Wildlife Management Area (WMA) in Southern Fauquier County, as well as a few 
odds-and-ends in Culpeper and Fauquier County.  Directions to Phelps as well 
as a link to the Virginia Department of Games and Inland Fisheries website 
covering Phelps are below.  

The short version: we had an enjoyable day netting about ninety-five species. 
 Two good sized flocks of Bobolinks (one with easily over one hundred birds) 
and a few scattered sightings of them was the most notable.  Other sightings 
included one Lesser Yellowlegs in Culpeper County; Red-headed Woodpecker at 
Phelps, in an area where the habitat looks fine, though I've never had the 
species in the entire WMA; Yellow-throated Vireos calling from many 
locations; two Ruby-crowned Kinglets; eighteen species of warbler (twelve of 
the sixteen species that I consider regular breeders in Fauquier, though the 
jury is still out on a couple birds so there might be as many as eighteen); 
Blue Grosbeaks in three locations (two past breeding spots, one 
new/never-been-to location); one singing Summer Tanager; and Indigo Bunting 
numbers building, but not even close to their maximum density.  

We started at about seven-fifteen AM looking and listening for Upland 
Sandpiper at the turf farm in Remington where they have bred in the past and 
were seen last spring.  This location is at the intersection of Routes 651 
and 654.  The place is the Woodward Turf Farms.  Should anyone go out there, 
please don't even consider stepping off the road and onto the turf that grows 
right to the edge of the ditch.  There is no traffic on Route 654, so 
standing roadside is easily done.  654 was a location that has had breeding 
Dickcissel and Horned Lark in the past few years.  None of the above species 
was present yesterday, however.  

We got to Phelps probably around seven-thirty.  We entered the parking area 
that we have not-so-creatively dubbed "Summer Tanager Road."  The name sort 
of implies that Summer Tanagers are thick there.  They are not.  We've just 
had a few of them in there in the past.  This parking area is off of Route 
632, one mile south from its junction with 651.  It is the second parking 
area on 632.  We walked through into the Waterfowl Management Area (one of 
the few places at Phelps where you can get right to the Rappahannock), and 
retraced our steps out.  The bulk of our warblers for the day were here, as 
was the Summer Tanager (breeder in this area), the Barred Owl that was awoken 
by my imitation, the Kinglets, Eastern Wood-pewee, Acadian Flycatchers, the 
Red-headed Woodpecker, many White-eyed Vireos, and a few Yellow-throated 
Vireos (which while never confirmed they undoubtedly breed here).  This walk 
still remains the best place I know of in Northern Virginia for getting 
killer looks at Chat and Prairie Warblers.  Prairies are the default bird in 
this place; if something flits or flies past, chances are that it is a 
Prairie.  We saw a few Chats displaying, as well as a few birds perched in 
the open.  Hooded Warblers are pretty common too, though not as easily seen.  
There were probably close to ten Black-and-white Warblers here too, which is 
a pretty good count.  It will be interesting to see how many are still there 
in a month.  Typically I only find Northern Parulas immediately along the 
river; Sunday had more than a couple in other areas.  Of the non-breeding (in 
Fauquier) warblers we had, they were all in this area.  They were 
Chestnut-sided (one of the iffy species that might breed at the higher 
elevations of G. Richard Thompson WMA in the northwestern end of the county), 
Magnolia, Myrtle, Black-throated Green, Blackburnian (with the obligatory 
"stunning male" added), and Blackpoll.  The rest of the group were a silent 
Blue-winged, which may well breed here though I have never had even a hint of 
one in this area, Parula, Pine Warbler, Prairie, Black-and-white, Redstart 
(may or may not breed here, but certainly breeds in Fauquier), Ovenbird, 
Louisiana Waterthrush, Common Yellowthroat, Hooded, and the Chats.  The only 
other warbler we found today not at Phelps was a singing Yellow.  

After leaving Phelps we needed to fill in a hole on Sue's Fauquier County 
List.  Blue Grosbeak.  Lucky that we did else we would have never been in the 
spot we were for the biggest flock of Bobolinks that we had for the day.  
Along Route 616 in the stretch between Casanova and Calverton, the road 
crosses a disused railway line.  We parked at the end of a private road, and 
walked the tracks northwest a ways until finding a grosbeak.  When we 
returned to the car, about 100 yards southeast of it, there was a tremendous 
ruckus of Bobolinks calling.  At one point a portion of the flock picked up 
and circled around, and there were seventy birds in this chunk.  Many were 
still on the trees and in the grass.  My estimate was one hundred birds, but 
there may have been many more.  Only one female in the bunch showed herself.  

After going to a couple other spots in Fauquier and not adding much, we found 
our way to a spot on Route 651 between Lakota and Remington.  Last June there 
were Dickcissels here, with Savannah Sparrows and Horned Larks nearby.  None 
of those birds were present on Sunday, however there were another flock of at 
least thirty Bobolinks.  

We left Fauquier for Culpeper County, down toward Rapidan wondering if there 
was a stray Scissor-tailed Flycatcher hanging out.  There wasn't.  We also 
spent about ten minutes under the bridge on Route 522 that crosses the 
Rapidan, and were unable to see any Cliff Swallows or any Cliff Swallow 
nests.  We drove Route 647 to Rapidan hoping for Dickcissel, but found none.  
We did have Bobolinks in two places, one being the historic site of the 
Scissor-taileds.  Also at the Scissor-tailed spot we had an Osprey locking 
talons with an adult Bald Eagle that was calling continuously.  Eventually we 
no longer saw the Osprey, and watched a pair of adult eagles fly off 
together.  Then we continued through Rapidan onto Route 614 heading across to 
Route 15.  We checked for the Shrikes along 614 and missed them.  That pretty 
much concluded our day of birding.

Directions to Phelps:  Essentially Phelps is west of Route 651 and 632, 
bordered on the west by the Rappahannock River.  Most of it is south of 
Kelly's Ford, though there is a chunk in Fauquier north of here called the 
Hogue Tract.  (Worth noting is that of the 4500 acres that is Phelps, there 
is a part of it in Culpeper County that I know nothing about, thus the 
following directions won't mention any of those areas.)  Notable at the Hogue 
Tract is the only nesting area that I know of for Prothonotary Warblers in 
the entire county.  I'm sure there are more somewhere.  Route 651 runs from 
US 29 at Remington all the way to US 17 at Goldvein.  This is all on the 
Delorme, page 69 at A-7.  Route 632 runs off north and south from 651, 
however only the southern portion is relevant to this area.  632 is about a 
mile south of Sumerduck.  

The website included in this message has all the parking lots noted on the 
map.  While there are a couple of them numbered at the lot itself, none are 
numbered on the map.  The primary area that I bird is the one described 
above, "Summer Tanager Road."  It is one mile down Route 632.  There are two 
roads that leave this parking area, and I take the one that heads west.  
Immediately you are in the thick of the Chat/Prairie Warbler habitat.  
Eventually if you follow this trail you'll come to a seasonal parking lot 
(opened only for hunters in fall).  Keep on the road past this gate.  There 
will be a sign that directs you to the Waterfowl Management area.  This is a 
manmade area with two shallow ponds right on the banks of the Rappahannock.  
There are three duck blinds here.  It is still pretty much unbirded, so who 
knows what might show up there in migration.  It is the sort of place that I 
wouldn't be surprised if any vagrant would arrive at and stick around for a 
while in fall, except that the hunting might screw that up a bit.  There are 
many miles of road in the preserve that can be walked.  Be warned however 
that there are maps of this place out there that show roads that do not 
exist.  This can be incredibly annoying when you think you are doing about a 
three or four mile loop and it turns out you have to either make it a seven 
mile loop or retrace a few miles you have already covered.  

The other area that I have birded is near the Resident Managers house and the 
fishing pond.  There is a parking area here, about a mile from 651.  It is 
the only road you can drive into the WMA off of 651, just north of Sumerduck. 
 There are signs saying that the parking area is for pond access only.  It 
doesn't technically say you have to be fishing, though I think that is the 
intent.  

Essentially Phelps is a 4500 acre block of protected (though managed) land 
that is largely unexplored from a birders eye.  That alone is a good enough 
reason for me to spend a lot of time there.  

Link to the VDGIF site for Phelps:

http://www.dgif.state.va.us/hunting/wma/cf_phelps.html

Cheers...

Todd

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Todd M. Day
Jeffersonton, VA
Culpeper County
BlkVulture@xxxxxxx
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