Thanks, Scott, for the notice about the American Pipits at Greenbriar
Park in Chantilly.
This morning (Sunday 18 March), they were still there, on the swales
right next to the road (Stringfellow), on both sides of the road, on
both sides (north and south) of the entrance to the parking lot for the
Park. The Pipits generally stayed together as a loose flock. As I
watched, they took off and then returned to a new part of the swale
several times, each time in response to a turning car or bicyclist
passing near them. At this location, you can observe them from quite
close range through a car window.
- Steve Johnson
Fairfax, VA
Scott Baron wrote:
Hello, everyone. While traveling home this afternoon
after visiting a museum and running errands I noticed
many AMERICAN ROBINS feeding on the ground. This was
along Stringfellow Road in the Fairfax/Chantilly area.
I also noticed that a flock of small brownish birds
were feeding along with them in one spot. I thought
they were sparrows but it's hard to tell when
traveling 40 mph. After arriving home and reading
Mary Ann's post, I became curious about these
"sparrows." So I went out again with my binoculars,
drove to the spot and pulled the car over. The birds
were still there, some very near the road. Yep,
AMERICAN PIPITS! I watched them from my car for
several minutes until the birds flew when a gentleman
and his dog walked through.
The area with the Pipits was near Greenbrier Park. I
would have never expected Pipits there. The roadside
has a strip of lawn, albeit a wider strip there, with
trees close by. A gravel parking lot for the park
juts into the lawn.
Scott Baron
Fairfax, Va.
--- Mary Ann Good <magood@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Interesting to see your report, Joe, because I just
got back from spending
some time at the Dulles Wetlands, after an NVBC bird
walk at Banshee Reeks,
where there were also many AM. PIPITS. They also
were, many of them, mixed
with the hordes of Robins beside and in the dirt
road, but many were also in
the flooded tussocky area by the road directly in
front of the Bald Eagle
nest. I know there were 30, probably many more. It
was fun seeing them
approach me up close as I concentrated on watching
the BALD EAGLE nest,
where one was sitting the nest, and the other poked
solicitously around the
rim.
As I reluctantly drove out of the Wetlands toward
Rt. 15, one more treat
awaited me. Where the road parallels Rt. 15 before
entering it, there was a
large flooded puddle in the grass beside the road,
and foraging in it was a
large flock. I pulled carefully over, and saw that
besides the Robins and 3
or 4 more Pipits, it was mostly RUSTY BLACKBIRDS. I
counted 52 at one
counting, male and female, most in spring plumage
but a few still showing a
little rusty.
There was a good contingent of ducks on the Wetlands
also--4 NO. PINTAILS, 4
NO. SHOVELERS (1M, 3F), 10 AM. WIDGEON, 25 GADWALL,
20 GREEN-WINGED TEAL,
and a single WOOD DUCK.
To add to the species seen at Banshee Reeks (sorry,
Larry), which will be
reported separately, I also saw our missing
Cardinal, Wh-breasted Nuthatch,
1 Killdeer, 1 Herring Gull with the swarms of
Ring-Bills, Hairy Woodpecker,
Pileated Woodpecker, a couple more Phoebes, Swamp
Sparrow, and Red-Winged
Blackbirds.
Near my house driving home, a juvenile
Red-Shouldered Hawk perched on a
board fence with some harassing Crows perched on
each side. They were too
busy to mind me sitting there watching their
skirmishes.
A great morning despite the cold feet and wind!
Mary Ann Good
-----Original Message-----
From: va-bird-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:va-bird-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On
Behalf Of Joe Coleman
Sent: Saturday, March 17, 2007 10:26 AM
To: va-bird
Subject: [va-bird] Pipits as a Yard Bird
Yesterday afternoon during the snow storm I noticed
lots of Robins in
the yard & what at first glance appeared to be
several sparrows. A
closer look revealed that while there were a few
sparrows there, most
of the smaller birds were AMERICAN PIPITS, the first
for my yard list.
When I went for a walk a couple of hours on my local
dirt roads later,
Ebenezer Church Rd & Yellow Schoolhouse, there were
lots of Robins in
the road and a lot of smaller birds as well, many of
which were
AMERICAN PIPITS. At first I thought they were
picking up grit but
when they let me get closer, within 10' of them, I
noticed some of
them were pulling up partially frozen worms and
eating them. At one
spot there were at least 20 pipits with several
others scattered up &
down the roads. What I first thought was a merlin,
but turned out to
be a SHARP-SHINNED HAWK, scattered all of them at
one point.
This morning there were again lots of birds on the
dirt roads, busily
eating & reluctant to move out of my way.
Birds at my feeders over the past few days have
included up to 6 FOX
SPARROWS and 2 WHITE-CROWNED SPARROWS.
Joe Coleman, near Bluemont, Loudoun Co.
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