Greets...
I spent the morning at the Marriott Ranch, mostly to give a couple of horses
some carrots and apples, but also searching for either the Swallow-tailed
Kite or the Eurasian Collared-Dove, finding neither. I arrived at about
six-forty-five, left at about ten-fifteen. I spent the first three hours
paying attention to the doves. When I arrived, the wires were lined with
doves, as they had been on Thursday morning when I first visited the ranch.
I took my time, identifying all of them, and had nothing out of the ordinary.
There were plenty of odd calls coming from the barn, but none were
Collared-Doves; everything sounded pigeon like. Eventually a Cooper's Hawk
and a pair of Kestrels started to scramble the doves, and many scattered to
various parts of the ranch.
I walked the grounds, still checking every dove I saw. I imitated the call
of Collared-Dove dozens of times, and got no response. I've had this work
pretty well in Florida and on the Eastern Shore of VA. By no means am I
suggesting that yesterday's party didn't have a EUCD. Just illustrating the
difficulty in re-finding it.
As for the kite, from about nine-forty-five until ten-fifteen I did little
but scour the sky for it. As expected, it certainly seems gone. Also, for
the record, this kite was seen in both Fauquier and Rappahannock County. The
Rappahannock River isn't very far west from where we stood to watch the bird.
I made three visits to the ranch, and amassed the following list of species:
Great Blue Heron (2, both flyovers)
Green Heron (1 flyover)
Canada Goose (12 overhead)
Mallard (1 overhead)
Black Vulture (perhaps 12)
Turkey Vulture (maybe 30)
Swallow-tailed Kite (how cool is that for the daylist?)
Bald Eagle (1 adult on 11 August)
Northern Harrier (1 on 8 August)
Sharp-shinned Hawk (1 today)
Coopers Hawk (one or two each day)
Red-shouldered Hawk (one each day)
Broad-winged Hawk (one on 8 August)
Red-tailed Hawk (at least two per day)
American Kestrel (a male/female pair each day)
Northern Bobwhite (one calling today)
Killdeer (just one, twice; surprisingly few)
Pigeon (a whole bunch)
Mourning Dove (today was the only day I counted, but I had 430 on the wires)
Eastern Screech-Owl (one along the Rappahannock on 8 August)
Chimney Swift (a couple dozen most days)
Ruby-throated Hummingbird (at least two, but hard to say)
Belted Kingfisher (flyovers on 8 and 13 August)
Red-headed Woodpecker (two adults on 8 August on near the river, one young
bird today near the B&B)
Downy Woodpecker (a few)
Hairy Woodpecker (one)
Northern Flicker (only one)
Pileated Woodpecker (one)
Eastern Wood-Pewee (one)
Eastern Phoebe (three today)
Eastern Kingbird (my max count was today, six)
Purple Martin (just a couple)
Tree Swallows (heard them routinely, but never really got a feel for their
numbers)
N. Rough-winged Swallows (today was really the first day I paid the swallows
much attention, and I had one)
Cliff Swallow (two today)
Barn Swallow (scores every day)
Blue Jay (a few today)
American Crow (a dozen or so each day)
Fish Crow (strangely, there were a couple there on 8 August and today)
Common Raven (one on both 8 and 11 August)
White-breasted Nuthatch (a couple on 8 August only, along the river)
Carolina Wren (one today, not sure about others)
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher (one on 8 August)
Eastern Bluebird (a few around every day)
American Robin (several)
Northern Mockingbird (a few)
Cedar Waxwing (a big flock today, about 45 birds)
Starling (lots)
Northern Cardinal (a pair today)
Blue Grosbeak (a pair on 8 August)
Indigo Bunting (a few)
Field Sparrow (one or two on 8 August)
Grasshopper Sparrow (zero. They are still singing in other parts of the
county)
Song Sparrow (a few)
Red-winged Blackbird (several flocks of a hundred or more)
Eastern Meadowlark (today I covered the most ground, thus my count was
highest; sixteen of them)
Common Grackle (several hundred in flocks)
House Finch (two)
American Goldfinch (always a few around, how many total would be a guess)
House Sparrows. It's a farm. There's loads.
Cheers...
Todd
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Todd Day
Jeffersonton, VA
Culpeper County
Blkvulture@xxxxxxx
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