Greetings,
Sunday was spent at Phelps WMA in southern Fauquier with Sue Heath, Ian
Topolsky, and five others. It was a beautiful morning, but somewhat quiet
from a birding standpoint. Numbers didn't change much from when I was there
four days earlier, except for an increase of Prairie Warblers, from three to
about twenty. A couple species were noted that were new arrivals for me this
spring, notably Yellow-breasted Chat and Worm-eating Warbler. A Lesser
Yellowlegs was calling from the wetlands area. A single Bank Swallow was
seen in the same area that a few were seen at the day before. Spotted
Sandpiper was flying down the Rappahannock, calling.
Highlight of the morning might have been the hawk flight. We had a few
Osprey overhead, and ran into a nice little surge of Broad-wingeds. Over
about a thirty minute period up to eleven AM, I estimated 85 of them to have
flown overhead. Several Sharp-shinneds and a Cooper's Hawk or two were also
noted. Five high and circling Red-shouldereds were hard to determine between
residents or migrants, perhaps a combination of both. A couple Red-taileds
and a Kestrel were noted as well.
The rest of Sunday was nothing unexpected. Topo and I tried to duplicate the
success of looking for hawks from Harrison Road as the birds headed toward
Bull Run Mountain, but weren't quite as lucky as we were the week before. We
ended up with nine Osprey throughout the entire day.
Today's odds-and-ends included a couple personal firsts-of-spring for me, and
some nice surprises in Fauquier. Great Crested Flycatcher was calling from
my yard when I woke up this morning, in Culpeper County. I heard my first
Wood Thrush of the year in Fauquier. Fauquier also held several Solitary
Sandpipers, Spotted Sandpipers, a flock of about forty American Pipits,
Grasshopper Sparrows, four Wilson's Snipe, and the best two birds of the day,
an adult Little Blue Heron, and two Caspian Terns. Germantown Lake continues
to produce one Red-necked Grebe. I had a few flyover Osprey in several
Fauquier locations today, and one over Central Park in Fredericksburg. I saw
my first suicidal Box Turtle of the year today as well. Moved him safely to
the roadside, for now.
Cheers,
Todd
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Todd Day
Jeffersonton, VA
Culpeper County
Blkvulture@xxxxxxx
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