was Stephen Eccles's encapsulation of the Northern Virginia Bird Club's
Saturday morning (3/11) walk at Blandy Experimental Farm. Stephen and I were
joined by ten other birders on a glorious day in a lovely location, where we
had lots of fresh air, sun, and excercise but didn't find a great variety of
birds. The Red-breasted Nuthatches and White-crowned Sparrows that we hoped to
see there had either departed for the season or were in hiding. We searched
the many pine trees in vain for Pine Warblers. We could hear Meadowlarks
singing around us, but they remained out of view.
However, there were some wonderful sights: a stunningly bright Golden-crowned
Kinglet; silvery Ring-billed Gulls streaming across the blue sky; two male
Red-winged Blackbirds, apparently recent arrivals, facing off ; and a variety
of different-looking Song Sparrows--Blandy's population seems a model of
racial diversity.
Our list:
Canada Goose 75
Black Vulture 6
Turkey Vulture 12
Red-tailed Hawk 4
American Kestrel 1
Kildeer 1
Ring-billed Gull 50
Mourning Dove 12
Red-bellied Woodpecker 3
Downy Woodpecker 1 heard
Northern Flicker 3
Eastern Phoebe 4
Blue Jay 6
American Crow 12
Fish Crow 8
Tree Swallow 12
Carolina Chickadee 4
Tufted Titmouse 2
White-breasted Nuthatch 4
Carolina Wren 2
Golden-crowned Kinglet 1
Eastern Bluebird 24
American Robin 60
Northern Mockingbird 6
European Starling 6
Yellow-rumped Warbler 2
Eastern Towhee 1
Field Sparrow 12
Song Sparrow 30
Swamp Sparrow 1
White-throated Sparrow 12
Dark-eyed Junco 18
Northern Cardinal 30
Red-winged Blackbird 2
Eastern Meadowlark 3 heard
Common Grackle 6
Brown-headed Cowbird 7
House Finch 20
American Goldfinch 24
Dorothy Tella
McLean, VA
