Va birders,
I did some birding along fire road 93 in the George Washington National
Forest here in Western Frederick County. Traditionally this spot has hosted
a
Golden-winged Warbler. Unfortunately , this year all the "winged" warblers
appeared to hybrids of Blue-winged and Golden-winged. Two seen over and over in
the
same spot appeared to be nesting nearby. All sang the Blue-winged song. All
had white Wingbars. They differed in the amount of white on throat and
underparts. Hopefully I will get a chance to try this and other nearby spots
with
suitable habitat for the Golden-winged
Other birds of note:
Ovenbird-2
Chat-4
Common Yellowthroat-2
Prairie Warbler-1
2 Yellow-billed Cuckoos engaged in the biological imperative
Scarlet Tanager
Acadian Flycatcher
Butterflies were numerous. Along the fire road there were small groups
numbering sometimes as many as ~ 50. As you walked pass they would rise and
swirl
about your feet and then spiral uppwards. Quite a neat show. My butterfly id
skills are rather lacking so I may mess up the names of a few .....
Species:
Hackberry Emperor-2
Red-spotted Purple ~ 70
Eastern Tiger Swallowtail ~ 35
Great Spangled Fritillary ~ 10
Silver spotted skipper ~ 10
Least Skipper -2
Eastern Blue ~ 35
Cabage white~ 100
Eastern Comma - ~ 10 one individual who might have been either a grey
or green comma or just another comma ....dunno definitely different than the
others in that it was very nondescript from below very dark with small white
comma barely visible even from 4 feet distance w bins..... also very pronounced
cleft between front and back wings......
William Leigh
Leightern@xxxxxxx
Winchester VA
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