[va-richmond-general] Larus Park, 5/5/07

A while back, the city put up a sign for Larus Park on the corner of Huguenot Road and Stony Point Road. As there are no trails and no parking at that location, I puzzled as I drove past the sign every day on exactly how to access this park, until finally, a month or so ago, I found a note about the park in the newspaper. There are a few parking spaces behind the fire station just east of the corner, and the trailhead is just there between the fire station and the Shell station. Not having time this morning to wander too far from home, I decided to check this park out. (I live about four blocks away.)
I was surprised at the extent of the park. Walking at normal bird watching pace (that is to say, hardly moving at all most of the time), I managed to kill two hours with no trouble today. The trail begins in a cedar grove with thick underbrush, but the vegetation soon thins out into open deciduous woods. The terrain starts out fairly flat, but after about an eighth of a mile, two parallel ravines start to slope down toward the river. The park is bounded in that direction by Chippenham Parkway. If you are adventurous, you can walk through a drainage culvert under the Parkway and emerge in the right-of-way for the high-tension power lines that parallel the road. Anyone who drives this route regularly knows that the corridor is a favorite hunting area for Red-tailed Hawks, and there was a fine specimen perched on one of the towers this morning. There are a couple of small creeks in the park, but no lakes or ponds.
It was a calm, overcast day, and so I wasn't expecting too much as far as the birds were concerned. This is very good habitat for thrushes, and I did see several Wood Thrushes and a couple of Veery (Veeries?), and just might have heard a Swainson's, though that bird didn't keep singing long enough for me to be completely convinced. I found four species of warbler, Northern Parula, Common Yellowthroat, Black-and-White, and a very cooperative Ovenbird. There were a couple of Phoebes at one end of the culvert, and a couple of White-eyed Vireos at the other. Another highlight was the Pileated Woodpecker foraging among the leaf litter for its breakfast, I presume. I ended up with a total of 33 species for the 2 hours I spent there. Complete list below. Not as birdy as James River Park, but it's as nice a walk in the woods as you could ask for smack-dab in the heart of suburbia.
If you go, be aware that the trails are not marked, and there isn't a grand loop, at least that I found. You can't really get lost, as the park is surrounded by Chippenham Parkway, Stony Point School, an apartment complex, and a private road. 

--
Lewis Barnett -- Chair, Dept. of Math & CS, U. of Richmond, VA 23173
              -- lbarnett@xxxxxxxxxxxx | lbarnett@xxxxxxx
              -- http://www.mathcs.richmond.edu/~lbarnett/

Location:     Larus Park
Observation date:     5/5/07
Notes:     Overcast
Number of species:     33

Canada Goose     1
Great Blue Heron     1
Red-shouldered Hawk     1
Red-tailed Hawk     1
Mourning Dove     1
Chimney Swift     1
Red-bellied Woodpecker     1
Downy Woodpecker     2
Pileated Woodpecker     1
Eastern Wood-Pewee     1
Eastern Phoebe     2
Great Crested Flycatcher     3
White-eyed Vireo     1
Red-eyed Vireo     1
Blue Jay     3
American Crow     1
Carolina Chickadee     4
Tufted Titmouse     4
White-breasted Nuthatch     1
Carolina Wren     6
Veery     2
Wood Thrush     3
American Robin     1
Gray Catbird     1
Northern Parula     1
Black-and-white Warbler     1
Ovenbird     1
Common Yellowthroat     2
Eastern Towhee     2
Northern Cardinal     4
Indigo Bunting     1
Brown-headed Cowbird     1
American Goldfinch     1

This report was generated automatically by eBird v2 (http://www.ebird.org)
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