FreeLists / va-bird / [va-bird] NVBC at Sky Meadows SP

["Dorothy M. Tella" <dtella@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hello VA-Birders:

Eleven birders joined in the Northern Virginia Bird Club's walk Saturday 
morning at Sky Meadows State Park (western Fauquier County).  Despite the 
dryness, the park looked beautiful, the fields behind the visitor center filled 
with hundreds of bright pumpkins.  We birded the area east of the visitor 
center, including the Snowden Trail loop, and counted 40 species, among them 
the park's signature Red-headed Woodpeckers, a pair of Common Ravens, two Bald 
Eagles, a bevy of Eastern Bluebirds, a half dozen Eastern Meadowlarks, and a 
lone Great Blue Heron  who was attempting to fish in one of shrunken ponds 
below the main entrance roadway.  The total number of birds was fairly low, 
perhaps because of our relatively late (8:30 AM) starting time.  The complete 
list:

Great Blue Heron 1
Turkey Vulture 1
Bald Eagle 2
Red-tailed Hawk 4
American Kestrel 2

Rock Pigeon 25
Mourning Dove 10
Yellow-billed Cuckoo 2
Red-headed Woodpecker 3
Red-bellied Woodpecker 8

Downy Woodpecker 1
Northern Flicker 10
Pileated Woodpecker 2
Blue-headed Vireo 2
Blue Jay 18

American Crow 3
Common Raven 2
Carolina Chickadee  6 heard
Tufted Titmouse 6
White-breasted Nuthatch 2

Carolina Wren 3
House Wren 1
Ruby-crowned Kinglet 7
Easter Bluebird 15
Wood Thrush 1

American Robin 1
Northern Mickingbird 3
European Starling 225
Magnolia Warbler 3
Black-throated Blue Warbler 1

Black-throated Green Warbler 2
Scarlet Tanager 2
Chipping Sparrow 15
Field Sparrow 3
Song Sparrow 1

Northern Cardinal 2
Eastern Meadowlark 6
Common Grackle 16
American Goldfinch 1
House Sparrow 6

Sandy Holton and I were the co-leaders.

Dorothy Tella
McLean, VA