Our 33rd annual Breeding Bird Count that covers our winter count circle
was held primarily on Saturday June 3rd, with some territories covered
on either side of that date by a few days. Twenty-four members of the
Lynchburg Bird Club covered a dozen territories and recorded 104
species, which is above our average of 101 species. Best bird was a
male BLUE-WINGED TEAL found by Charles and Melva Hansrote and Dick and
Ruthann Miller on 6/3 on a private pond in Bedford County. This was the
first occurrence on this count of this rare summer visitor. Next best
bird was a lingering BLACK-THROATED BLUE WARBLER found by Mike
Boatwright on 6/4 in Amherst Co., the fourth occurrence of this species
on this count. During some post count scouting on 6/7 I found another
individual of this species along Route 501 just south of Eagle Eyrie
Baptist Conference Center in Bedford Co. Rexanne Bruno found eight
CLIFF SWALLOWS 6/5 at Reusen's Dam on the James River in Lynchburg near
the Bedford Co. line, the seventh time the species has been found on the
count. A single AMERICAN BLACK DUCK was with several Mallards on the
James River near the Lynchburg city dump 6/2, its eighth occurrence on
the count, and single OSPREYS were found on 6/2, 6/3, and 6/5 on three
separate territories during the count. This was the ninth occurrence of
this raptor on the count. Robert Ferrell and I observed another OSPREY
this morning (6/13) in Campbell Co. just west of Concord. An active
BALD EAGLE nest on the James River still had three young in it on 6/2,
although judging from their size they were ready to leave the nest any
time. And nesting by COMMON RAVENS was again found on a railroad
trestle crossing the James River from Lynchburg into Amherst Co. by Doug
Shedd. Thanks go out to all of the Bird Club members who made this
count a success. Count totals for a few select species follow:
Northern Bobwhite 11
Spotted Sandpiper 5
Common Nighthawk 1
Red-headed Woodpecker 1
Willow Flycatcher 2
Tree Swallow 115 (83% increase over last year's record)
Yellow Warbler 2 (record low)
Yellow-throated Warbler 1
American Redstart 2
Prothonotary Warbler 4
Worm-eating Warbler 6
Ovenbird 7
Louisiana Waterthrush 18
Kentucky Warbler 1
Common Yellowthroat 22
Hooded Warbler 1
Yellow-breasted Chat 19
Summer Tanager 3
Grasshopper Sparrow 11
Gene Sattler
Lynchburg
