VA Birders,
We thought it would be fun to explore some sites in the new VA Birding &
Wildlife Trail, Mountain Area, book. So this morning, Pat Blyer, Betty
Kilgore, and I went to Smithfield Farm in Clarke Co. on the Front Royal loop.
Since
we took Rt. 7 west from Leesburg to the farm, we made a brief stop on the way
to check the Cliff Swallows which nest under the Rt. 7 bridge over the
Shenandoah River. We estimated that we saw about 30 of these swallows and a
dozen
or more nests there.
Smithfield Farm has been in the same family since the early 1800's, and
the main house is now a bed & breakfast. The farm consists of about 350 acres,
much of it in fields and orchards. Near the house is a nice grove of
Sycamores and other trees. Our best birds were Yellow-billed Cuckoos, No.
Rough-winged Swallows, Indigo Buntings (which were everywhere), and a Baltimore
Oriole.
The swallows were sitting on the wires like they might be getting ready to
migrate.
Altho we didn't see any unusual birds there today, we enjoyed our visit
and agreed that we would like to go back and check out this farm in the other
seasons.
Val Kitchens
Arlington, VA
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