It appears that finding Red Crossbills on Route 924 (Briery Branch
Lake/Reddish Knob Road) is becoming somewhat dependable again. I
found a pair "gravelling" at the Briery Branch Lake pull-off this
morning around 7:30 AM and a little later I found four more at the
large gravel area at the intersection of Route 924 with F.S. 85. In
both cases they flew down very close to me or my truck after only a
few minutes of waiting. Both of these locations are where others have
seen them in the past two weeks and where we have seen them rather
frequently over the years.
[I posted three photos of the crossbills on the "photo page" of the
"shenvalbirds" website. Go to the home page of this Yahoo site and look
for the "Photos" section or simply try punching in:
http://photos.groups.yahoo.com/group/shenvalbirds/lst]
It was rather cool this morning and other activity seemed pretty slow
but I did hear or see Blue-headed and Solitary Vireos, Ovenbirds,
Louisiana Waterthrush, Black-throated Green Warblers, Pine Warblers,
Worm-eating Warblers, Hooded Warblers, Northern Parulas, Wood
Thrushes, towhees, and singing Black-capped Chickadees. Before I got to
the lake a Wild Turkey flew across the road in front of me and scrambled
up the bank for my first bird of the morning.
At the Lambertown/Briery Branch marsh, I found two Yellowlegs and a
Bonaparte's Gull in beautiful breeding plumage. However they all flew
off before I even attempted to get out of the truck.
More later,
Clair Mellinger
--
Biology Department
Eastern Mennonite University
Harrisonburg, VA 22802
540 432-4409
mellinac@xxxxxxx
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