The sharp-eyed and very-enthusiastic teens of the
Northern Virginia Teen Bird Club had a great time
visiting the Montressor Rd (661) area off of
route 15 between Leesburg and Lucketts from about
2 to 4:30 PM Feb 14. Thanks to the excellent
directions and suggestions by Jon Little and
Craig Tufts posted on VA-Bird last week, we saw
all of our target birds. The teens represented
three schools: Colly O'Brien from Lab School,
Scott Avery from Westfield, and Glynnis Keogh,
Alex Robbins, and Cody Vaughan from Flint Hill.
Great thanks to Nolan Britt for his raptor
expertise in co-leading this trip.
Our route was the Montressor Rd loop(Montressor
661, Stumptown 662, New Valley Church 663), then
along 15 S to 661 Limestone School Rd to 656
Hibler Rd.
Here are the highlights of what we saw:
1 light phase rough-legged hawk, in flight and
perched, in the scope (Montressor Rd after the
sharp bend in the road)
5, possibly 6, short-eared owls at the exact
location described by Craig Tufts, wonderful
views of males and females in the scope and in
flight. (I have never seen SEOW this well except
in the Galapagos!)
47 ! red-tailed hawks (13 of these were en route,
mostly along the Dulles greenway). We tried to be
careful not to double-count.
2 red-shouldered hawk
1 adult Accipiter sp.
3 kestrel, both male and female
11 northern harrier (4 were in the same field as
the short-eared owls)
both black and turkey vultures
sparrows: white-crowned(at least 10), tree(4),
field, song, white-throated, junco
other: mockingbird, wb nuthatch, carolina
chickadee, titmouse, goldfinch, mourning dove,
pigeon, canada goose, cardinal, blue jay,
american crow, starlings, red-winged blackbirds,
grackles, house sparrow, bluebird, robin
Our next Northern Virginia Teen Bird Club is
Saturday March 20th. Any interested teen birders
should e-mail me to let me know of your interest.
The field trip destination and times will be
determined based on the birds reported during the
prior week and based on feedback I get from the
teens who plan to attend. This club is sponsored
by Fairfax Audubon Society and Flint Hill School.
=====
Frederick D. Atwood fredatwood@xxxxxxxxx
Flint Hill School, 10409 Academic Dr, Oakton, VA 22124
703-242-1675
http://www.agpix.com/fredatwood
http://www.flinthill.org
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