FreeLists / va-bird / [va-bird] Vesper Sparrow at Blandy

[Birdconsv@xxxxxxx]

On the morning of the 2nd, I made my first ever visit to Blandy Farm--what a 
lovely place, almost like an oasis in the "desert" of the farming country.  
Like the previous report, I too missed the moorhen (and the shrike), but I did 
find a singing Vesper Sparrow on the loop south of Lake Arnold just before the 
loop joins Route 628.  The bird was singing on a dead tree on a shrub island 
in the hayfield west of the loop road.  It attacked an encroaching Chipping 
Sparrow and chased it past me, flashing its white tail feathers in 
confirmation.  
I believe I also saw another one that flushed from the large trees that 
overhang the road.  I know that Vespers are not rare birds, but I certainly 
don't 
see them often, so thought I should share this sighting of a bird that may be 
fairly easy to find, at least while it remains territorial.
Enroute home to Arlington, I stopped by the Route 7 Shenandoah River bridge 
to check on the Cliff Swallow nesting colony.  They were still there and 
entering nests.

Dave Davis
Arlington, Virginia


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