On Sunday afternoon we visited the field Todd Day described in earlier emails.
The Dickcissels and other reported birds were still singing enthusiastically
and were readily visible from Spring Creek Drive around 3 pm. Weather was
cloudy bright during a lull in the rain. Bonus birds were Green-backed Heron
and Cooper's Hawk flying by.
On Saturday evening I happened to visit with a local farmer who owns much of
the land further south along Route 15 and he confirmed that they are mowing the
fields now. Chances are the remaining weedy field will succumb quickly, since
a strip has already been mowed closest to Route 15. Culpeper farmers generally
don't let fields get that grown up because the weedy fields seed the adjacent
alfalfa and soybean fields with thistles which the farmers don't fancy as much
as the birds fancy them. If you venture down and find the field has been
mowed, try looking for the birds a bit further north and across Route 15 in a
small weedy field in between a trailer park (Teahouse Drive) and a relatively
new housing development. I doubt anyone is going to mow that patch of thistle.
You can probably park in the parking area for the public swimming pool at the
end of the trailer park and ask some of the trailer park residents if you can
walk past their homes to the field.
Sarah Thomas Mayhew
William Mayhew
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