VA BIRDers,
I visited GW Thompson WMA this morning in the area known as Catbird Heaven.
A relatively good morning although I had to work a bit for the birds. No big
highlights, just alot of birds.
This location is on Freezeland Rd generally north of VA 55 and Linden - the
ridge straddles Clark and Fauquier Co. The road will deadend at a gate marking
the boundary with Sky Meadows SP. Drive up the hill, continue along the
gravel portion. The road is being widened near the high point (antenna farm -
Trillium Trail parking lot), continue north, straight through the intersection
where a left turn takes you to Blue Mountain (mailboxes on right), continue
past
a WMA turn out or two, past the right hand turn to another small community,
then park at the next WMA lot on your right (#9 in the old system?). Get out
and walk north along the road.
I arrived a bit after 7 am and, after lacing boots, walked from the parking
lot to the gravel road to find out who was chipping so much so early this
morning. I spotted a Hooded and a few soft pishes brought in another 3
Hoodeds,
including daddy, who were very interested in meeting me. A couple of female
Black-throated Blues also dropped by, carefully eyeing the stranger.
I moved on and encountered more chips in the area with the vine enshrouded
trees, these being much higher pitched and somewhat longer in duration. The
birds were near the tops of the few sunlit trees at this time and inspection
revealed Cape Mays - perhaps a family group as 2 were reasonably colorful and
the
other 3 were dull. Several other birds snuck by. A few Brown Thrashers,
Catbirds, and Towhees called nearly constantly.
Continuing north along the road, it got fairly quiet until I met up with more
activity at the next parking lot, perhaps 1/3 mile distant - Catbird Heaven.
Here I went slowly so my zone of disturbance was slowly changing. I quickly
heard the calls of Black-throated Greens and spotted Magnolias, Tennessees,
Am. Redstarts, Black-throated Blues, Canadas, etc. I noted a family group of
Chipping Sparrows on the road. Then, a warbler dropped down next to them
picking at some insect - a drab Yellow-rumped. It flew off and was replaced by
an
interesting blue warbler with white supercillium and white breast - I was
stumped for tens of seconds until I realized this was a adult female Cerulean -
on
the ground! Later, I noted a HY Cerulean.
It took me a while to traverse the distance to the parking lot but soon I
stood in the lot near the sign, a bit away from the action area. The birds
soon
returned to the area. I spotted the adult Cerulean flying to the top of this
nearby nearly leafless tree and after observing it, I noted a big, long, erect
flycatcher nearby, perched near the tree top. I had fine looks at this
Olive-sided as the sun was nearly behind me - I could make out the fine white
edging of the secondaries and tertials and the narrow eye ring was clear. The
bird
sallied out several tens of yards and returned, this time presenting me with
a breast-on view showing the well-colored vest and central vertical stripe.
When the activity lessend I walked back to the car but stopped again near the
vine shrouded area. I noted alot of acitivity present here and spent some
time viewing the birds - likely the same flock. Among the new birds noted were
Nashville and Kentucky and a calling Wood Thrush.
The summary of notables for the 3 hour encounter in the Catbird Heaven area
follows.
Kurt Gaskill
YB Cuckoo 1
RT Hummingbird 5
Olive-sided Flycatcher 1
EW Pewee 6
E. Phoebe 1
Great Crested Flycatcher 1
White-eyed V 5
Yellow-throated V 1
Red-eyed V 6
House Wren 3
BG Gnatcatcher 7
Wood Thrush 1
Gray Catbird 10
Brown Thrasher 5
Tennessee 6
Nashville 1
Chestnut-sided 2
Magnolia 7
Cape May 5
Black-throated Blue 6
Yellow-rumped 1
Black-throated Green 2
Blackburnian 3
Bay-breasted 1
Blackpoll 1
Cerulean 2
Black & White 3
Am. Redstart 4
Worm-eating 1
Ovenbird 2
Kentucky 1
Hooded 7
Canada 2
Scarlet Tanager 4
E. Towhee 10
Chipping Sp 5
Rose-breasted Grosbeak 1
Indigo Bunting 6
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