[va-bird] Central Loudoun CBC, Dec. 26, 2004

Hi all.
One of our sector leaders described yesterday's (the 8th) Central Loudoun CBC 
on December 26 as a "meat & potatoes" kind of day: no spectacular birds but 
overall a decent day of birding.  Most of the birders commented on the cold 
with the temperatures remaining in the low 20's for the most part and never 
getting above 30 F and then only for a short while as the wind began to really 
pick up and the clouds returned.  Those who were out owling really noticed the 
cold as it didn't get to 20 F until about 10 am.

While still missing complete reports for a couple of sectors I'm not sure what 
our final count will be but expect between 85 and 90 species, our annual norm.  
Trends seem to be continuing w/Bobwhite and Meadowlark numbers (1 of each) even 
lower than previous years most part, appear to be down was like many of our 
other counts.

With almost all the still water frozen there wasn't a lot of waterfowl and what 
there was, for the most part, what one would expect to find on Virginia's 
piedmont.  However, three Common Loons, a surprising miss for the count in 
previous years, were seen 

Especially nice were the two Long-eared Owls which were reported from a very 
private property, a Northern Saw-whet Owl, and a couple of Barn Owls (as well 
as decent numbers of the other more common owls though fewer than last year).  
An astounding total of a dozen Ravens were reported with sightings, sometimes 
singly and once in a group of five.  While there were fewer Northern Harrier 
sightings than in previous years at least three were observed as well as 
several American Kestrels though it looks like our counts of both will be our 
lowest in our 8-year history.    Four hatch-year Red-headed Woodpeckers were 
also seen, a significant decrease from previous years.

So far only one Great Black-backed Gull and five Turkeys have been reported.

No unusual warblers were found. and a single Chipping Sparrow was the most 
unusual sparrow found.

Several of this week's counts still need participants.  Both Phil Daley 
(phildaley@xxxxxxx) and I (jandkcoleman@xxxxxxxxx or 540-554-2542) need more 
people in our western Loudoun County sectors in the Calmes Neck CBC as does 
John Drummond (Jxdrummo@xxxxxxx) for the Lucketts area of the Sugarloaf 
Mountain Count.  And Kurt Gaskill (kurtcapt87@xxxxxxx or 703-768-2172), 
compiler of the Ft. Belvoir count, reports that several of us sectors could use 
additional people.

Joe Coleman, Compiler
Central Loudoun CBC
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