FYI Joe Coleman
Hotline: Voice of the Naturalist
Date: 6/13/2006
Coverage: MD/DC/VA/DE
Telephone: 301-652-1088 option 1
Reports (voice): 301-652-1088 option 2
(email): voice@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
(deadline): midnight Mondays
Compiler: Joe Coleman
Sponsor: Audubon Naturalist Society of the Central
Atlantic States (independent of NAS!)
Transcriber: Steve Cordle (scordle@xxxxxxxxxxxxx)
Please consider joining ANS, especially if you are a regular user of
the Voice (Individual $40; Family $50; Nature Steward $75; Audubon
Advocate $150). The membership number is 301-652-9188 option 12, the
address is 8940 Jones Mill Road, Chevy Chase, MD 20815, and the web
site is http://www.AudubonNaturalist.org.
This is the Voice of the Naturalist, a service of the Audubon
Naturalist Society. This report was prepared Tuesday, June 13, at 2:30
pm.
Top birds this week are BLACK-BELLIED WHISTLING-DUCK in MD and VA,
SWALLOW-TAIL KITE in VA & DC, MISSISSIPPI KITE in VA, RED-COCKADED
WOODPECKER in VA, and WESTERN KINGBIRD in MD.
Other birds of interest include NORTHERN BOBWHITE, ANHINGA, LEAST
BITTERN, YELLOW-CROWNED NIGHT-HERON, KING RAIL, shorebirds, CLIFF
SWALLOW, VEERY, DICKCISSEL, and BOBOLINK.
The BLACK-BELLIED WHISTLING-DUCK at the Washingtonian Center,
Gaithersburg, Montgomery Co, MD continued to be seen among the
resident ducks and geese on a pond every day through today, June 12.
BLACK-BELLIED WHISTLING-DUCKS also showed up on a farm pond in
Suffolk, VA with at least 15 on June 9 and 12 on June 10. They haven't
been seen since then.
A possible SWALLOW-TAIL KITE was seen flying over Rock Creek in DC by
a commuter the morning of June 6. A SWALLOW-TAIL KITE was seen soaring
overhead at a stoplight on Rte 123 near Burke Center Parkway in
Fairfax Co, VA on June 8.
Two adult MISSISSIPPI KITES put on quite an aerial show at Huntley
Meadows Park, Fairfax Co, VA on June 7. One was also seen soaring over
the main marsh at Huntley Meadows on June 10. A first summer
MISSISSIPPI KITE was soaring and diving over the Dulles Greenway
Wetlands Mitigation Project in Loudoun Co on June 11 and a perched
MISSISSIPPI KITE was seen far south on the same day on Rte 701 in
Southampton Co, VA.
Two, and possibly three, RED-COCKADED WOODPECKERS were seen and
well-heard from the road at the Piney Grove Preserve near Wakefield,
VA on June 10.
The WESTERN KINGBIRD at Ft McHenry National Monument, Baltimore, MD,
was seen on June 11.
A singing, perched NORTHERN BOBWHITE was at Occoquan Bay NWR, Prince
William Co, VA, on June 7. NORTHERN BOBWHITES were also located at the
Blandy Experimental Farm, Clarke Co, VA on June 10.
A male ANHINGA was seen on June 11at Bellyache Swamp (on Rte 661
between Rte 652 and Rte 653) in southeastern Virginia.
A LEAST BITTERN was seen June 6 from the little gut at Dyke Marsh,
Fairfax Co, VA from the boardwalk at the end of the "dogleg." A LEAST
BITTERN was also seen from a canoe during the Breeding Bird Survey at
Dyke Marsh on June 10 as the surveyors approached the little gut.
Young and adult YELLOW-CROWNED NIGHT-HERONS were seen at a nest inside
the Beltway, off Cedar Lane in Montgomery Co, MD, on June 7. (From the
confluence of Elmhirst Parkway and Broad Brook Dr, a trail leads
toward the Beltway, Rock Creek, and the nest.) Two YELLOW-CROWNED
NIGHT-HERON fledglings were also present in Sligo Creek Park. They
were visible from the playground on Dale Drive on June 8. Further up
the Parkway, just before Wayne Ave., there was another nest; this one
also had two young birds.
A KING RAIL was seen along Wildlife Drive in the Occoquan Bay NWR,
Prince William Co, VA on June 6 and June 7. It was observed on the
side of the road where a small bridge crosses a pond about .3 of a
mile from the parking lot.
WHITE-RUMPED SANDPIPERS were mixed in with SEMIPALMATED PLOVERS and
SEMIPALMATED SANDPIPERS at Shirley Plantation in Charles City Co, VA
on June 11.
The CLIFF SWALLOW colony under the Rte 7 Bridge over the Shenandoah
River in Clarke Co, VA is thriving as is the one under the Clarke Co
Rte. 50 Bridge a few miles south. About 50 birds were seen at the Rte
7 colony on June 7 and about 75 at the Rte 50 colony on June 10.
A VEERY was heard the evening of June 9 at Long Branch Nature Center,
Arlington Co, VA.
A singing DICKCISSEL was the highlight of the Cape Charles
(Northampton Co, VA) Breeding Bird Survey on June 7. It was on the
west side of an "S" curve on Rte. 600 just north of the intersection
of Rte 600 and Latimer Siding Rd. Two DICKCISSELS, a male and a female
carrying food, were also at Shirley Plantation in on June 11.
BOBOLINKS are continuing to be seen in Loudoun Co, VA, with one near
Waterford on June 11 and a few, apparently nesting, in the fields
along Ebenezer Church Rd, Rte 779, near Bluemont all week long.
See Life Paulagics is running a trip on August 26 out of Lewes, DE.
For further information, contact them at 215-234-6805 or visit their
web site at www.paulagics.com.
Some of this week's reports have been gleaned from the MDOSPREY,
VA-Bird, and DE Birds list servers.
Finding Birds in the National Capital Area by Claudia Wilds is an
excellent source of directions to many birding sites. The ANS
Bookstore (301-652-3606 or
www.audubonnaturalist.org/cgi-bin/mesh/store) is an excellent source
for this and many other nature-related titles.
To report bird sightings, e-mail your report to
voice@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx. But no big photo files, please. You may
also report by calling 301-652-1088 and selecting menu option 2.
Please post reports before midnight Monday, identify the county as
well as state, and include your name and a Tuesday morning contact,
either e-mail or phone.
Thank you for calling, and GOOD BIRDING.
