Virginia birders,
Having finally bested bronchitis, I wandered around Lake Albemarle
(northwest of Charlottesville) this morning, 15 April, and encountered a few
of the season's birds. I had hoped that last night's impressive
thunderstorms might bring a few more birds to ground but, if so, they must
have departed before dawn!
Nonetheless, I enjoyed a pleasant and remarkably warm morning, immersed in
bird song. Among the highlights were a soaring OSPREY, a loudly singing
LOUISIANA WATERTHRUSH (at the spillway), 4 BARN SWALLOWS, a cooperative
BLUE-HEADED VIREO, 7 BLUE-GRAY GNATCATCHERS, and 25+ CHIPPING SPARROWS.
Since waterfowl in Albemarle County are always notable, I will note that I
also spied a drake WOOD DUCK motoring around the lake's edge, and a GREAT
BLUE HERON flying by overhead. Warblers were notably absent: I saw just 2
YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLERS and 4 PINE WARBLERS.
The butterflies included 4 individuals (3 female, 1 male) of a favorite
species, Falcate Orangetip, and my year's first Eastern Tailed Blues.
BTW, Laura and I saw our first RUBY-THROATED HUMMINGBIRD, a nicely marked
adult male, in our yard last Wednesday (12 April).
Mark Adams
Charlottesville
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.
