----- Forwarded by Larry Lynch for Ben Jesup -----
From: Breep@xxxxxxx
Greetings after a long silence. I have given up on ever getting internet
access again in my office at the Department of the Interior due to the
Cobell Indian Trust Fund Litigation. I have not posted anything since
November. But as it is spring, I can no longer hold my tongue (hard for
me to do in any circumstances). So I asked Larry to post this for me
until I can figure out how to post from my home computer (I'm a better
birder than a computer user . . . I hope). I just wanted to after
spending the morning at Lorton and Leesylvania with Bart, Philip, Jason,
and Paula (with a brief cameo by Kurt Gaskill), I raced home to be a
dutiful father and husband. Those roles happily coincided with birding
when we decided to enjoy the lovely weather and have a picnic dinner with
Jim Mathews and his family on the tower at Huntley Meadows. On the way
out, at about 6 p.m., we were treated to an American bittern doing a
circuit over the marsh (not to mention the numerous amorous snapping
turtles). From the tower, we enjoyed a great egret, and a winter wren
and a bunch of sparrows in the vegetation between the tower and the pond.
Song, white-throated, and some good looks at several swamps. Huh, never
seen sparrows flycatching before . . . cool, my first two palm warblers
of the year. Finally, on the way out in the twilight (after 7), we saw
three night-herons cruising across the marsh. It was too dark to ID
them, but I noted with interest Chris French's report of 3
yellow-crowneds on Monday morning. Finally, after seeing a couple of
bats, one "bat" was too large, with too steady a flight, flying in a
stright line about six feet over the marsh. Too dark to be sure, but I
bet it was one of the snipe that eluded Rich Reiger.
All in all, a good day: 4.5 hours birding in the morning, less than 1.5
hours of very casual birding with pre-schoolers, 65 species (not counting
the possible snipe). It would have been a good day to try for 80 . . .
Ben Jesup
Alexandria, VA
breep@xxxxxxx
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