[va-bird] Some piedmont and mountain birding, Fauq and Loud Co, 6/22/02

VA BIRDers,

I did a little birding today to fill in my June Northern Virginia list.  
Early this morning, I joined up with Jon Little at upper Thompson WMA and we 
found the expected species - Cerulean Warbler and Am. Redstart were the month 
tics plus Black and White and Kentucky Warbler, Common Yellowthroat, Hooded 
Warbler, and Yellow-breasted Chat.  No sign of the Blue-headed Vireo near 
parking lot 6.  We encountered a Rose-breasted Grosbeak near the northern 
edge of upper Thompson - as one travels Freezeland Rd towards the southern 
edge of Sky Meadows you come to one of the unmarked Thompson parking lots 
(13?) that has been dubbed "Catbird Heaven" due to the large number of Gray 
Catbirds in the tall, dense brushy habitat, and we heard a Rose-breasted 
Grosbeak west from this location, in Clarke Co.  Great bird for the location 
but not the geographic home run I was hoping for.

At lower Thompson we met up with Ian and Chris and quickly found 3 different 
Blue-winged Warblers along the trail at the other end of the dam.  Two birds 
appeared to be foraging adults but we did not observe "carry food" although 
both birds seemed to visit one vine shrouded tree quite often.  We strongly 
suspect a nest is nearby.

We traveled back to the area just south of parking lot 1 and spotted Belted 
Kingfisher, Warbling Vireo, and Willow Flycatcher along the small stream near 
the road.  The tics here were the 3 Broad-winged Hawks soaring nearby.

A quick stop at Sky Meadows netted six Red-headed Woodpeckers near the 
tollbooth for the month tic.  Simultaneously, a pair of Scarlet Tanagers flew 
overhead and nearby Yellow-billed Cuckoo worked the vegetation just below a 
pair of cavorting Red-headeds.  A croaking Common Raven added another tic.

We traveled onto Bluemont, Loudoun Co where several minutes of looking 
yielded up the Loggerhead Shrike family along Foggy Bottom Rd just a few 
hundred yards from the Bluemont road - this was one of the locations this 
species was spotted from last year.  Four birds were spotted near the rear of 
a newly planted orchard with at least two being begging FY; we observed one 
eating a tasty winged morsel recently caught by a parent.  Getting a tic and 
confirming breeding makes for a nice "double".

We drove around Foggy Bottom Rd and made it back to Ebenenzer Church Rd near 
Yellow Schoolhouse and found 2 Bobolinks on a wire across from the field 
where they bred last year - and thus earned another tic.  Hopefully, this 
breeding year will go well for the birds, too!  The road also yielded up two 
more Red-headed Woodpeckers.

We visited the Raven Rocks area of Loudoun Co but found nothing much new.  As 
it was getting late, the group broke up.  Jon and I tried one last spot, a 
nice wet meadow area north of Round Hill. Here we lucked out with the last 
tic of the day, a couple of Cliff Swallows in a mixed swallow flock working 
one of the fields.  (I don't know where Cliff Sw. may breed in the No. VA 
area, but am open to any suggestions!)

A fine day of birding which also added E. Kingbird ON in Loudoun Co (about 15 
feet up, crotch of tree, no. of Round Hill), and Am. Redstart FL at lower 
Thompson on the ground in the middle of the trail to the Blue-winged (which 
was later scolded by a parent).

Kurt Gaskill



You are subscribed to VA-BIRD. To post to this mailing list, simply send email 
to va-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx To unsubscribe, send email to
va-bird-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with 'unsubscribe' in the Subject field.

Other related posts: