A nice flock of sparrows and a large flock of
blackbirds and starlings comprised most of the avian
action on the W side of Sky Meadows this morning.
FLURRIES fell and the high temp was about 42F when I
left. The brisk wind made it feel even colder. The
birds were very quiet for early April. Between that
and the weather it felt like February.
The sparrows actively fed in the cornfield near the
Boston Mill Rd. section of the Gap Run Tr. on my first
pass. When I passed again a few hours later they had
moved a couple of hundred feet down the treeline. The
were fun to watch and fairly close to me. Highest
number on two passes:
CHIPPING, 4
VESPER, 10
SAVANNAH, 5
SONG, 5
JUNCO, 2F
Other sparrows that I saw in the park: TOWHEE, FIELD,
WHITE-THROATED
The blackbird/starling flock mostly stayed in the
pumpkin field the whole time. This flock would move
around by leapfrogging one another. Sometimes part of
the flock would perch in trees only to return to the
field.
I don't know what all these birds were feeding on but
it must have been abundant for two flocks to be in the
same area all morning. MOURNING DOVES, ROBINS and
MEADOWLARKS were feeding in the partially bare ground,
too. Numbers below are conservative.
EUROPEAN STARLING, 50+
RED-WINGED BLACKBIRD, 100+
COMMON GRACKLE, 50+
BROWN-HEADED COWBIRD, 100+-
The usual RED-HEADED WOODPECKERS were about. I
watched a TITMOUSE feed on tiny tent caterpillars,
picking them off one by one until he had his fill.
Amazingly, I saw one azure (butterfly) in the woods
along the Snowden Trail.
Happy Easter,
Scott Baron
Fairfax, Va.
____________________________________________________________________________________
Never miss an email again!
Yahoo! Toolbar alerts you the instant new Mail arrives.
http://tools.search.yahoo.com/toolbar/features/mail/
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.
