1. This morning (April 24) I spent a fun two
hours from 6:30 to 8:30 at Burke Lake in Fairfax
County mostly standing in one place at a point on
the shore with one short walk around the
playground circle.
The highlight was the calling loons. Their
thrilling calls echoed off the wall of trees on
the lake shore. There were 5 COMMON LOONS all in
breeding plumage, one had a few white feathers
on the face. When the patches of sunlight shone
on them, the red in their eyes was stunning. Each
was in a different part of the lake. Also
present were 1 dapper breeding- plumage
PIED-BILLED GREBE, 1 teetering, stiff-winged
SPOTTED SANDPIPER, 2 unsuccessful OSPREYS, 1
RED-SHOULDERED HAWK, 7 WOOD DUCKS, 9 MALLARDS, 65
CANADA GEESE, 1 RING-BILLED GULL, 22
DOUBLE-CRESTED CORMORANT, 9 GREAT BLUE HERON, 80
YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLERS (many singing and in
gorgeous plumage), 3 tail-wagging PALM WARBLERS,
4 singing OVENBIRDS, 1 singing BLACK-AND-WHITE
WARBLER, 2 BLUE-GRAY GNATCATCHER, 3
exuberantly-singing RUBY-CROWNED KINGLETs, 3
TOWHEE, ~30 BLUE JAYS (one group of 8 had a
wonderful medley of bizarre calls as they chased
each other, or sidled up to one another bobbing
up and down, one presenting an acorn to another),
3 FISH CROWS, 8 AMERICAN CROWS, 13 WHITE-THROATED
SPARROWS, 18 CHIPPING SPARROWS, 1 SONG SPARROW,
~15 GOLDFINCHES, 5 CARDINALS, 1 BROWN THRASHER,
~25 TREE SWALLOWS, ~10 ROUGH WINGED SWALLOWS, ~ 5
BARN SWALLOWS, (at one point most of the swallows
perched 5-10 feet directly above my head,
preening, fluttering) 3 CHIMNEY SWIFTS, 2 EASTERN
KINGBIRDS, 4 FLICKERS, 3 PILEATEDS, 4
RED-BELLIEDS, 3 DOWNIES, 7 TITIMICE, 6 CAROLINA
CHICKADEES, 4 CAROLINA WRENS, 2 WHITE-BREASTED
NUTHATCHES, and 1 BLUEBIRD. Also present were
mourning doves, robins, grackles, cowbirds.
2. Back here in Oakton today, while walking to
school through Oak Marr Park I had my first
BLUE-HEADED and WHITE-EYED VIREOS of the year in
a flock of ~20 YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLERS and 3
RUBY-CROWNED KINGLETS while a BROWN THRASHER sang
nearby.
3. On Friday 4/22 on Flint HIll School campus in
Oakton we had 65 CHIPPING SPARROWS and a day-glow
GOLDFINCH feeding on dandelion and other weed
seeds. April 20 saw the return of the HOUSE WREN
and EASTERN KINGBIRD to the campus and two
OSPREYS passed overhead. Another OSPREY passed
over a lacrosse game on 4/23. Resident cowbirds
appeared on campus on April 21, the males
strutting and calling to the females all over the
playing fields and fences.
I hope you all get a chance to spend a good chunk
of time savoring some of this beautiful spring
before it quickly turns to summer.
All the best
fred
Frederick D. Atwood fredatwood@xxxxxxxxx
Flint Hill School, 10409 Academic Dr, Oakton, VA 22124
703-242-1675
http://www.agpix.com/fredatwood
http://www.flinthill.org
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