Hello, birders.
I camped at Sky Meadows State Park in Fauquier County
on Saturday night and did some hiking while I was
there. I thought I'd try to hike to a couple of parts
of the park where my bird surveys don't take me. It
was a great weekend for camping. It was nice and warm
and there was still some leaves on the trees. On
Sunday I paid a brief visit to the Blandy Experimental
Farm in Clarke County.
I hiked 10 miles on Saturday, to Ashby Gap (Route 50
runs through it) and back. Mostly expected stuff was
seen and heard but I did hear 3 RUFFED GROUSE. One
was drumming near the intersection of the North Ridge
Trail and the Appalachian Trail, the second bird I
didn't see but I heard a bird fly off with fast,
direct, strong wingbeats. It was at or below eye
level. It had to be a grouse. This bird was a few
hundred feet down the trail to the east. I saw 3 FOX
SPARROWS near this spot on the way back, my first for
the season. A third grouse was heard about halfway
between the above trail intersection and Ashby Gap.
It gave a "cluck" and then it drummed softly. The
stretch of the AT that I hiked runs roughly along the
Fauquier/Clarke County line. The most common bird
along the AT was WHITE-THROATED SPARROW. JUNCOES were
mixed in with these flocks.
The hurricane really did a number on the trees in the
upper part of the North Ridge Trail. I wonder what
effect it will have on the bird life here.
I heard 3 Great Horned Owls and an Eastern Screech-owl
that night.
The next morning I wanted to hike on a far part of the
Bridal Trail that I never get to see but there was
some sort of horse show in the area so that part of
the park was basically closed to hikers. I did bird
the area of the parking lot, where a flock of about 50
AM. GOLDFINCHES were feeding in the weeds. 2 adult
BALD EAGLES flew north together towards Lost Mountain.
I checked out fishing pond, which held a male BELTED
KINGFISHER but otherwise was pretty quiet.
I decided to drive on over to the Blandy Experimental
Farm in Clarke County after driving through the
village of Paris. A quick check of the farm ponds
revealed no waterfowl except for several CANADA GEESE.
Anyway, Blandy was a nice place to be on a beautiful
Sunday. The temperature hit 80 degrees F. by 1pm! I
meandered from the parking lot to the pond and back.
AMERICAN ROBINS and CEDAR WAXWINGS fed on hackberries
and a flock of sparrows played hide and seek with me,
mostly hide. I'd estimate about 50 robins and 12
waxwings were present. I saw 3 imm. WHITE-CROWNED
SPARROWS, with some FIELD, SONG AND WHITE-THROATED,
too.
I had all 7 woodpecker species at Sky Meadows this
weekend.
Butterflies were common both days in the open country,
with sulphurs, mostly Clouded, predominating.
Scott Baron
Fairfax, Va.
__________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
Exclusive Video Premiere - Britney Spears
http://launch.yahoo.com/promos/britneyspears/
You are subscribed to VA-BIRD. To post to this mailing list, simply send email
to va-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx. To unsubscribe, send email to
va-bird-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with 'unsubscribe' in the Subject field.