Greetings all,
This morning Todd Day and I birded Thompson WMA from the first parking
lot on the left as you are heading north on Leeds Manor Road from I-66.
There is a sign here stating that it is the Ted Lake Trail but we found
no lake. Anyway, we found an Olive-sided Flycatcher in perfect
habitat. Also 6 Blue-winged Warblers, and an assortment of other things
including White-throated Sparrow, Swainson's Thrush, Canada Warbler,
Blackburnian Warbler, gobbling Wild Turkeys, Redstarts, Kentucky
Warbler, Ovenbird, Black-throated Blue Warbler and numerous Red-eyed
Vireos.
To get to the Olive-sided Flycatcher spot, take the Ted Lake Trail which
leads out of the northwest corner of the parking lot. Shortly the trail
splits. The Blue-winged Warblers and most other stuff were all to the
left but the Olive-sided Flycatcher was to the right. Take the right
fork (the trail is a bit less worn in that direction) and follow it
through a clearing and back into the woods. The trail will split again
and it doesn't matter which way you go because they meet back up again.
The left fork crosses the stream on a rickety bridge and the right goes
through a muddy area and you have to cross the stream on rocks. Anyway,
once you get past the stream, keep going until you come to another
clearing. From there you can see one dead tree. If the bird is not in
that tree, keep walking until you can see a second dead tree. We
watched it for 15 minutes flying back and forth between these trees,
catching bugs on the wing, and then sitting and eating them. Gorgeous
vest on this bird and when we first saw it, it was perched with its back
to us allowing us to see the large white wing patches.
Please let Todd or I know if you see it so we can monitor how long it
hangs around.
Sue
--
Susan Heath
Fairfax County
Centreville, VA
sheath@xxxxxxxxx
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