Howdy Va-Birders
On Friday June 18, I did a USGS breeding bird
survey down in lower King and Queen County near
Dragonville. The route starts near the town of
Ino and ends near Mascot crossing over several
swamps and through a mosaic of habitats in
various stages of regrowth resulting from the
logging industry which is very active in this
area. About a quarter of the sites were adjacent
to farm fields (corn, wheat, soybean) but most of
the sites were forest or regrowing successional
stages. (What a pleasant experience birding this
rural area is compared to the Leesburg area that
I covered for USGS BBS today with its zooming and
noisy traffic which made birding difficult and
scary on some of the roads. I was passed by only
17 vehicles during my entire survey route in K&Q
county!)
The nicest surprises were:
1. My first breeding season broad-winged hawk for
the area.
2. A heron rookery. Last year it had one visible
nest. This year it has 4 active great blue heron
nests, each with two big babies almost ready to
fledge. After the survey was over I went back and
watched them for awhile.
3. Good numbers of bobwhites. Though the locals
say it is nothing like the goode olde days, 21 in
15 locations is much more than we get anywhere
here in northern virginia.
4. Higher than normal numbers of yellow-billed
cuckoos. (22 in 18 locations)
5. Good numbers of colorful birds like
prothonotary warbler, tanagers, hooded warbler,
prairie warbler, yellow breasted chat, and indigo
bunting. In these BBS routes, the surveyor stops
for three minutes every .5 miles for 50 stops
starting 1/2 hour before sunrise. The exact same
stops are always covered in the same sequence
year after year for the purpose of easier
comparison. Number in () is the average from
previous years.
Here are the numbers.
All the best
fred atwood
Species Total Ind. Tot. Stops
Great Blue Heron (1.7) 2 1
Black Vulture (2) 2 2
Turkey Vulture (7.3) 24 9
Wood Duck (1.7) 2 1
Broad-winged Hawk (new) 1 1
Northern Bobwhite (8.7) 21 15
Mourning Dove (16.3) 34 24
Yellow-billed Cuckoo (3.7) 22 18
Barred Owl (new) 1 1
Whip-poor-will (1.7) 2 1
Chimney Swift (1.3) 3 2
Ruby-throated Hummingbird(2.7) 1 1
Belted Kingfisher 1 1
Red-headed Woodpecker (.7) 1 1
Red-bellied Woodpecker (5.7) 3 3
Downy Woodpecker (5.3) 6 5
Hairy Woodpecker (.7) 3 2
Yellow-shafted Flicker 4 4
Pileated Woodpecker (4.3) 2 2
Eastern Wood-Pewee (13.7) 11 10
Acadian Flycatcher (20.3) 23 16
Eastern Phoebe (4.3) 5 3
Great Crested Flycatcher(1.3) 7 6
White-eyed Vireo (13.7) 25 19
Yellow-throated Vireo (3.3) 7 7
Red-eyed Vireo (68.3) 87 41
Blue Jay (6.3) 8 5
American Crow (47) 33 21
Barn Swallow (1) 1 1
Carolina Chickadee (18) 6 3
Tufted Titmouse (23.3) 24 20
White-breasted Nuthatch (1.3) 3 3
Carolina Wren (8.7) 16 12
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher (16.3) 24 16
Eastern Bluebird (4) 3 3
Wood Thrush (14) 17 13
American Robin (4) 7 4
Gray Catbird (5.7) 8 6
Northern Mockingbird (3) 2 2
Brown Thrasher (5.3) 7 6
European Starling (6) 2 1
Cedar Waxwing (3.3) 1 1
Northern Parula (5.3) 3 3
Yellow-throated Warbler 1 1
Pine Warbler (26) 38 25
Prairie Warbler (22.7) 34 21
Black-and-white Warbler (7.3) 4 4
Prothonotary Warbler (2) 6 4
Worm-eating Warbler 1 1
Ovenbird (38.3) 52 33
Common Yellowthroat (19) 53 23
Hooded Warbler (24) 37 27
Yellow-breasted Chat (23.3) 37 26
Summer Tanager (2.7) 11 10
Scarlet Tanager (10.7) 6 5
Eastern Towhee (22) 37 17
Chipping Sparrow (20.3) 39 22
Field Sparrow (5.7) 13 7
Northern Cardinal (31) 33 21
Blue Grosbeak (4.7) 9 7
Indigo Bunting (53.3) 57 25
Red-winged Blackbird (13.3) 6 3
Common Grackle (13.3) 9 5
Brown-headed Cowbird (8.3) 5 5
Orchard Oriole (1) 1 1
American Goldfinch (8.3) 14 9
=====
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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