Greetings,
Sue Heath and I spent two-and-a-half hours this morning at the Phelps WMA in
southern Fauquier County, entering at the Curtis Parking area. We arrived
late, at about eight-thirty. In short, just about all the birds that breed
in this portion of the WMA are in. Some numbers are still down, and I'm sure
there's a bird or two that I'm forgetting, but it pretty much sounded like it
will from now until June or later. I suspect some birdsong had dropped off
by the time we got there.
Three Summer Tanagers were noted, with both sexes and songs and calls heard.
One pair was foraging near a pair of Scarlet Tanagers that were out of
habitat. The male Summer didn't seem to care that the Scarlet wasn't another
Summer and seemed to interact with it a bit. Red is red I guess. Two
Black-throated Blues were heard singing, one seen, an Acadian Flycatcher,
five Yellow-throated Vireos, a few Red-eyed Vireos, a Ruby-throated
Hummingbird, three Orchard Orioles, a single Baltimore Oriole, a
Yellow-billed Cuckoo, five Indigo Buntings, six Wood Thrushes, one Great
Crested Flycatcher plus the tanagers were all new since my last visit on 20
April. Still present and at or reaching June-like numbers are Blue-gray
Gnatcatchers, Prairie Warblers, Common Yellowthroats, White-eyed Vireos, and
Eastern Towhees, each with thirty or more seen or heard (maybe only 20
Prairies, but they'll get there). Yellow-breasted Chats are still building,
maybe ten today. Black-and-White Warblers and Hooded Warblers were probably
about ten each, Ovenbirds maybe fifteen. Six or seven Northern Parulas, one
Louisiana Waterthrush, and one Pine Warbler round out the known breeding
warblers for this chunk of the refuge.
Clearly there's been a push of White-throated Sparrows, as noted in other
posts over the weekend. We had about eighty of them today, foraging in the
leaf litter and flying across the road. Numbers of Blue Jays were lifting
off or passing over, and I'd estimate maybe 120 of them, mostly in groups of
12-20. A single Yellow Palm Warbler today was far fewer than my last few
outings. I've certainly noticed more of them this spring on the piedmont
than I have in years past. Myrtle Warblers were also down compared to my
last few visits, barely scraping together a dozen today. Only one
Ruby-crowned Kinglet today, not singing. A pair of Swamp Sparrows around one
of the blinds at the wetlands. A female Hooded Merganser continues to hang
around the wetlands, with a couple Wood Ducks and three Canada Geese. Three
or more Solitary Sandpipers were along the shore there today. Only raptor
noted was a Broad-winged Hawk in the area where I suspect they're nesting.
Cheers,
Todd
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Todd Day
Jeffersonton, VA
Culpeper County
Blkvulture@xxxxxxx
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