Thought I'd spend some time this morning near my house in western Loudoun
County near Bluemont trying to figure out where the Bobolinks nests actually
are & if there are any young yet. While there were at least 4 male Bobolinks
in the two horse pastures on Legacy Farm that border Ebenezer Church Rd, Rt.
779 I didn't see a single female or any sign of where the nests are. The males
spent all their time perched either on the wires or paddock fence and
occasionally flying & singing once. They were joined on the wires or paddock
fence by a Grasshopper Sparrow, a couple of Meadowlarks and an Eastern
Kingbird.
The Legacy Farm manger is going to hold off mowing the pastures as long as she
can but will prob. need to do so in a week or so.
A Kestrel that appeared to be a first year male landed on one of the telephone
poles in the field. This is the first sign of nesting Kestrels in the area for
a couple of years. Several swallows harassed the Kestrel for a few minutes
when it first appeared.
For about 10 minutes a Northern Bobwhite was heard calling from the scrub on
the other side of the road. I never heard the Willow Flycatchers.
Joe Coleman near Bluemont
