[va-bird] Piedmont birds

VA Birders,

Yesterday (23 June), I ran a BBS route in southeastern Fauquier and 
northwestern Stafford counties.  Highlights were a Red-headed Woodpecker nest 
with young along Bristersburg Road about one mile north of the Stafford County 
line and decent numbers of Northern Bobwhites (23 among the 50 stops).  I 
recorded no Dickcissels, despite the presence of ostensibly suitable habitat in 
several areas where I had the species during the 2000 invasion.

I then headed south/southwest, largely without a plan, into Spotsylvania and 
Orange counties before heading north into Culpeper County, just exploring some 
areas that I hadn't previously birded.  Highlights are as follows:

American Wigeon: 1 partial-eclipse male along Rt. 627 southeast of Rapidan, in 
Orange County.  The bird, on a small farm pond, may have had an injured right 
wing (and was almost certainly injured given its presence at this location on 
this date), although all or most of its outer primaries on both wings were 
intact.

Cooper's Hawk: 1 adult carrying prey at the intersections of Rt. 627 and 628, 
southeast of Rapidan in Orange County.

Bald Eagle:  2 (an adult and subadult) were along the Rapidan River east of 
Rapidan (in both Orange and Culpeper Counties), while another subadult was 
along Rt. 627 southeast of Rapidan in Orange County.

Loggerhead Shrike: 1 adult along Rt. 621 in Spotsylvania County, 0.3 miles east 
of Rt. 611 near Parker.  The bird was hanging around a small American holly 
along a fenceline on the north side of 621, beyond a roadside pond just east of 
a farm lot with four large silos.

Warbling Vireo: 2 singing males along the Rapidan River (1 near the Rt. 522 
crossing and the other farther upstream (southwest) along Rt. 647, between 522 
and Rapidan (Orange/Culpeper Counties).

Horned Lark: Pair feeding one recently fledged young along Rt. 647 on the 
northwest side of the Rapidan River, 2.5 miles northeast of the 647/736 
intersection (Culpeper County).  Two singing males were further northeast along 
Rt. 647 at Batna.

Vesper Sparrow: 1 singing male at the edge of a bean field near Horse Lake on 
the southeast side of Rt. 627, southeast of Rapidan in Orange County.  This 
location is unusually far south for breeding Vesper Sparrows in the Piedmont.

Dickcissel:  2 singing males on the southeast side of Rt. 615 just southwest of 
the Rapidan Berry Gardens (where Todd Day had some on 16 June).


This morning (24 June), the Cooper's Hawk nest in our yard had three fairly 
large, but still mostly downy young.


Good birding,

Steve Rottenborn
Dale City, VA
rottenborn@xxxxxxxxxxxx



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