12 park staff members and volunteer birders set off into Huntley Meadows
Park Tuesday morning to see how many species of birds they could find. The
event - the annual Bird-a-thon - is a fundraiser for a park internship
program. Larry Cartwright lead a team on the "back-side" of the park (South
Kings Highway access), while Andy Higgs and P.J. Dunne lead teams around the
park's boardwalk and Deer and Cedar trails. Park staffers Annie, Connie,
Kitty, Suzanne, and Carolyn joined volunteers Larry Cartwright, Kurt
Gaskill, Paula Sullivan, Ben Jessup, Andy Higgs, Chris French, Marianne
Mooney, and P.J. Dunne in the endeavor (sorry if I've forgotten anyone or
made any misspellings).
Some parties begain as early as 5:00 am, wrapping up by 11:00 am to meet and
compare notes at the nearby Denny's. By mid-day, a total of 88 species had
been recorded. An end-of-the day foray into the park may have cleaned up
some of the morning's misses (American bittern, killdeer, least sandpiper,
snipe to name a few.)
This morning was somewhat cool, very damp and foggy, with brief periods of
light rain. All in all - not the greatest conditions. This, combined with
what seems to be slower-than-normal migration for some species put us 14
species behind last year's total.
Best birds would have to be common nighthawk, glossy ibis, sora, hooded
warbler, and Wilson's warbler. A complete list of the morning's birds
follows.
great blue heron - 13
great egret - 7
green heron - 12
glossy ibis - 1
canada goose - 64
wood duck - 6
american black duck - 1
mallard - 51
hooded merganser - 6
osprey - 1
cooper's hawk - 1
red-shouldered hawk - 1
red-tailed hawk - 1
sora - 1
lesser yellowlegs - 3
solitary sandpiper - 13
spotted sandpiper - 3
ring-billed gull - 3
rock dove - 1
mourning dove - 16
yellow-billed cuckoo - 10
barred owl - 6
common nighthawk - 1
chimney swift - 62
ruby-throated hummingbird - 4
red-bellied woodpecker - 28
downy woodpecker - 9
hairy woodpecker - 4
northern flicker - 3
pileated woodpecker - 6
acadian flycatcher - 11
eastern phoebe - 6
great crested flycatcher - 12
eastern kinbird - 2
tree swallow - 17
northern rough-winged swallow - 7
barn swallow - 19
american crow - 16
fish crow - 6
unidentified crow sp - 7
carolina chickadee - 32
tufted titmouse - 38
white breasted nuthatch - 3
carolina wren - 13
house wren - 8
ruby-crowned kinglet
blue-gray gnatcatcher - 72
eastern bluebird - 14
veery - 1
Swainson's thrush - 1
wood thrush - 11
american robin - 5
gray catbird - 9
european starling - 5
white-eyed vireo - 3
red-eyed vireo - 80
blue-winged warbler - 3
northern parula - 6
chestnut sided - 3
magnolia - 2
black-throated blue - 5
yellow-rumped - 13
black-throated green - 2
pine - 3
prairie - 1
black-and-white - 2
american redstart - 10
ovenbird - 20
northern waterthrush - 1
common yellowthroat - 75
hooded warbler - 1
Wilson's warbler - 1
scarlet tanager - 17
northern cardinal - 50
rose-breasted grosbeak - 1
blue grosbeak - 4
indigo bunting - 23
eastern towhee - 7
song sparrow - 5
swamp sparrow - 8
white-throated sparrow - 24
red-winged blackbird - 101
common grackle - 51
brown-headed cowbird - 16
baltimore oriole - 1
house finch - 5
american goldfinch - 62
house sparrow - 6
Chris French
Oakton, VA
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