Greetings,
Thursday afternoon at about six, my wife Kathryn, my father Mike and I
walked into the Thompson WMA in northwestern Fauquier County. We parked at
the
Appalachian Trail parking area, which is the second most northern parking area
atop the ridge.
We walked in about a half mile south on the Appalachian Trail, and then came
back out. Regular breeders in this area that were seen or heard are
American Redstarts, which are pretty much everywhere; Kentucky Warbler,
Cerulean
Warbler, Scarlet Tanager, Red-eyed Vireo, Towhee, Catbird, Common Yellowthroat,
Wood Thrush, Ovenbird, and American Goldfinch. A recently fledged Common
Raven was screaming from the trees, and eventually showed itself. Odd noise
those things make. Only two through-migrants were noted. A Nashville Warbler
was singing and later seen, and a Gray-cheeked Thrush was heard calling and
singing.
At about eight PM, my wife and I were able to see a few Common Nighthawks
flying over Warrenton. I headed up to Fauquier Hospital, hoping that what we
were seeing was the tip of the iceberg, and that there might be a bunch
around. No dice. There was just five for the evening.
While enjoying a few Sierra Nevada Pale Ales at a backyard in Warrenton with
a few friends, including Ian Topolsky, at about nine-thirty I started
hearing overhead flight calls of birds. It was the first time this season
that I
was able to hear any nocturnal migrants, and I just don't get enough exposure
to these calls to be certain what I'm hearing. I was mostly sure that the
most common note last night was Gray-cheeked Thrush, though I heard a couple
that sounded like they were Swainson's (which is the easiest of those whistled
calls to me). I heard a few warbler-like chips, mostly "zeet" notes, and
then heard a cuckoo. The cuckoo had similarity to Sandhill Crane calls, but I
couldn't remember which one it was. It wasn't until this morning that I
loaded the "Flight Calls of Migratory Birds" by Evans and O'Brien CD-ROM into
my
computer. The thrushes were certainly Gray-cheekeds, and probably a Swainson
or three among them. The cuckoo was Black-billed. The warblers were
anyone's guess. The last thing I heard was something that was likely in the
heron
family, but I never heard it well enough to figure it out.
There were probably 40-50 Gray-cheekeds, 2-4 Swainson's, 5 or 6 warblers, on
e Black-billed Cuckoo, and a heron or not.
Cheers,
Todd
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Todd Michael Day
Jeffersonton, Virginia, USA
BlkVulture@xxxxxxx
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