Jason Waanders and I had a nice walk at Huntley this morning. There were
some nice birds, but the insects were more impressive. Best of the day was
a 4+ inch hickory horned devil. Wow! Never seen anything like it before.
Wish I had my camera. Heres a website with pictures:
http://bugguide.net/node/view/3559/bgimage
The meadows are just full of wildflowers (mostly what I believe is tickseed
sunflower), and the butterflies are amazing. We saw six tiger swallowtails
on one thistle. Also many monarchs, sulphurs, hairstreak/blues,
checkerspots, and skippers of who knows haw many kinds. Smaller numbers of
red-spotted purples, painted ladies, and common wood nymphs. We also saw a
butterfly that Ive never seen before: from my limited books, it appears to
have been a variegated fritillary. Its worth a walk here even if there are
no birds.
And there were some birds. Best was a NASHVILLE WARBLER warbler in the
Woodcock Meadow. Others of note (most or all in the Woodcock Meadow):
Green heron (flying over)
Sharpie
Osprey
Barred owl (much vocalization, even at 10 a.m.)
YB cuckoo 4
Great-creasted flycatcher 3
Acadian 4
Phoebe 1
Red-eyed vireo 12
WEV 2 (one with a world-class imitation of a towhee)
Unidentified catharus thrush 1
House wren 2
Gnatcatcher 4
Bluebird 8 (in a loose flock, flying high to the south)
Thrasher 1
Magnolia warbler 4
B&W 4
Redstart 3
Yellowthroat 15
Blue grosbeak 4 (all close together, including a somewhat cruddy looking
male feeding another bird)
Bunting 6
Also, Jim Mathews saw two nighthawks over Takoma Park tonight.
Ben Jesup
Alexandria, VA
