VA-Birders,
In an effort to shake out interesting birds from the western portions of
Northern Virginia, Kurt Gaskill and I set out today to a few areas west of
I-81, then taking many of the smaller roads through Frederick, Clarke, Loudoun,
Fauquier, and Prince William Counties.
Our first stop was the area of Middleburg near the junction of I-66 and I-81.
It was here that I found my one and only 2005 Virginia Rough-legged Hawk last
January, so of course we were hoping for a repeat. There were no Rough-legs
here, and in fact we noticed a general lack of buteos, accipiters, and Kestrels
for the entire area west of I-81. Our first decent bird occurred just north of
this area at the intersection of Meadows Mills Rd and Veterans Rd - a handsome
MERLIN perched close to us in a snag. Other birds of note in this area were
two RED-SHOULDERED HAWKS, a PILEATED WOODPECKER, YELLOW-BELLIED SAPSUCKERS,
several PURPLE FINCHES, a HORNED LARK, and several WHITE-CROWNED SPARROWS.
Moving on to Frederick County, we again found it not to be very birdy. We did
find a couple AMERICAN KESTRELS, more than a dozen RED-TAILED HAWKS, and
another HORNED LARK. We went atop Great North Mountain to find it snow-covered
and devoid of birds. As we started back down the mountain, we came upon a
large parid flock. We made some effort to get their attention and ended up
being surrounded by dozens of birds, including a BROWN CREEPER and two
RED-BREASTED NUTHATCHES. Best bird here was a single BLACK-CAPPED CHICKADEE
among the many CAROLINAS, exhibiting bold white secondaries, white nape (not
grayish like a Carolina) producing that "big-headed" look, and an irregular
edge to the bib.
From there, we went in search of more hawks, coming up with more generous
numbers of the regulars as we drove east. We decided to head for Sky Meadows
for it's specialties, and as we came to the gate of the park we noticed a
near-adult RED-HEADED WOODPECKER sitting right on the gate post!! All 7
woodpeckers were gotten today. Pressing on, we found another atop the hill as
well as a COMMON RAVEN flying by. We next drove the nearby Carr Road, and Kurt
spotted a tail-bobbing EASTERN PHOEBE sitting in a tree overhanging the road
that we both got nice looks at. Nice January find!!
From here it was on to the Rectortown area via Rockeby Road, where we found our
day's first NORTHERN HARRIERS and additional RED-TAILS, SHOULDERS, and
KESTRELS. At about 4:30 we headed over to the owl spot, and when we arrived,
we noticed a bird perched atop a tree in one of the fields. It turned out to
be a SHORT-EARED OWL, and over the next hour we found a total of four Owls and
at least 5 more NORTHERN HARRIERS. It was such a treat to see the owls in
broad daylight with sunshine as they cavorted around and perched atop the
various snags, exhibiting their distinctive dark triangles around their eyes.
We also heard a NORTHERN BOBWHITE call repeatedly, and Kurt also saw a distant
EASTERN MEADOWLARK at this location.
Best birding to all,
Jay Keller
Arlington
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.