Four teams of volunteers and park staff (13 people total, I think) descended
on Huntley Meadows today (roughly 5am-noon) to try and tally as many species
as possible. The 9th-Annual Bird-a-thon is a fundraiser for a park
internship. For more info (results from previous bird-a-thons, to make
donations, etc.) please visit:
http://www.friendsofhuntleymeadows.org/
The day was a great success, with more than 100 species tallied - 105 by
lunchtime, to be exact. There may be some additions if afternoon forays
turn up any new species, but here's the list for this morning's work. Top
billing is split between a LINCOLN'S SPARROW and KENTUCKY WARBLER. With my
(biased) vote for the Kentucky, as I was the one lucky enough to find it
(#182 for my personal Huntley list) and because I didn't see the Lincoln's!
A nice fly-over COMMON LOON, 5 SEMIPALMATED PLOVERS, ubiquitous CUCKOOS and
ACADIAN FLYCATCHERS, and a total of 19 species of warbler (including CANADA
WARBLER) are also worth mentioning. A female AMERICAN REDSTART
nest-building, and a possible BLACK-AND-WHITE WARBLER pair were exciting
finds, along with PHOEBE, GNATCATCHER, and RUBY-THROATED HUMMINGBIRD nests
found.
Four teams of 2-4 people spit up covering many miles on foot on both sides
of the park. We did our best to eliminate double-counting, and came up with
following numbers.
common loon - 1 fly over
double-crested cormorant - 10
great blue heron - 15
great egret - 2
green heron - 4
black vulture - 1
turkey vulture - 4
Canada goose - 110
wood duck - 11
American black duck - 1
mallard - 15
hooded merganser - 21 (13 of which were ducklings)
osprey - 2
bald eagle - 3 (1 ad, 2 imm)
Cooper's hawk - 1
red-shouldered hawk - 10
red-tailed hawk - 6
semipalmated plover - 5
killdeer - 2
greater yellowlegs - 8
lesser yellowlegs - 1
solitary sandpiper - 6
spotted sandpiper - 4
least sandpiper - 16
ring-billed gull - 1
mourning dove - 14
yellow-billed cuckoo - 17
barred owl - 3
common nighthawk - 1
chimney swift - 18
ruby-throated hummingbird - 10 (courtship display, nest found)
red-bellied woodpecker - 24
downy woodpecker - 8
hairy woodpecker - 3
northern flicker - 4
pileated woodpecker - 4
eastern wood-pewee - 3
acadian flycatcher - 17
eastern phoebe - 4
great crested flycatcher - 10
eastern kingbird - 8
warbling vireo - 1
white-eyed vireo - 2
red-eyed vireo - 82
blue jay - 217
American crow - 10
fish crow - 3
crow sp - 12
tree swallow - 19
northern rough-winged swallow - 2
barn swallow - 14
Carolina chickadee - 21
tufted titmouse - 18
white-breasted nuthatch - 2
Carolina wren - 14
house wren - 9
ruby-crowned kinglet - 1
blue-gray gnatcatcher - 90
eastern bluebird - 13
veery - 8
Swainson's thrush - 5
hermit thrush - 1
wood thrush - 14
american robin - 12
gray catbird - 36
northern mockingbird - 1
brown thrasher - 3
European starling - 11
cedar waxwing - 4
blue-winged warbler - 1
northern parula - 20
chestnut-sided warbler - 3
magnolia warbler - 2
black-throated blue warbler - 18
yellow-rumped warbler - 12
black-throated green warbler - 1
pine warbler - 2
blackpoll warbler - 15
black-and-white warbler - 10 (including one male-female pair that seemed to
be potential breeders)
American redstart - 11 (including one female observed nest-building)
prothonotary warbler - 1
worm-eating warbler - 2
ovenbird - 31
northern waterthrush - 3
common yellowthroat - 85
Kentucky warbler - 1
hooded warbler - 1
Canada warbler - 1
scarlet tanager - 19
eastern towhee - 11
song sparrow - 5
Lincoln's sparrow - 1
white-throated sparrow - 47
northern cardinal - 56
rose-breasted grosbeak - 2
blue grosbeak - 1
indigo bunting - 10
red-winged blackbird - 98
common grackle - 129
brown-headed cowbird - 20
orchard oriole - 1
Baltimore oriole - 5
house finch - 3
American goldfinch - 57
house sparrow - 4
Good birding,
Chris French
Oakton, VA
bonxie@xxxxxxx
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