VA-Birders,
Hoping to find a LA Waterthrush and some of the good birds that Marc
Ribaudo saw on Saturday at Prince William Forest Park, Sharon Lynn
and I hiked Mawavi Road and a bit of the South Valley Trail this
morning. We found the park very smoky along the scenic drive and
learned that fire fighters were putting down a forest fire in the
vicinity of the Oakridge Campground. We ran into one of the fire
fighters about mid-morning who said the fire, which started
yesterday, was mostly out. Conditions are very dry in the park and
the danger of fire must be extremely high.
We neither saw nor heard a waterthrush, but our best bird by far was
a singing HOODED WARBLER not far from the Mawavi Rd. parking lot. We
did not see it, but heard it well 4 or 5 times. We both were totally
confident of the ID. We are well aware that this is over three weeks
earlier than the early date for that park for this species, although
In breeding season this park has more Hoodeds than any other place in
No Virginia, as far as I know. There has been very little movement of
neo-tropical migrants through our area so far this spring and over-
wintering seems unlikely for this species. They can be casual in the
southern US, but no further north than South Carolina from what I
have read. So readers are welcome to doubt the report, if they
choose. If I were not writing the report, I might doubt it myself!
Other species of note:
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker - 1
Eastern Phoebe - 4
Red-breasted Nuthatch - 4
Brown Creeper - 1
Golden-Crowned Kinglet - many
Ruby-crowned Kinglet - 1(heard singing
Hermit Thrush - 2
Pine Warbler - many
Fox Sparrows - 15
Paula Sullivan
Alexandria
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