(Wake up AOL!)
VA BIRDers,
A reasonably good day at Leesylvania SP with Sherman Suter and I starting
just after dawn. A cloud bank was obscuring the sun for most of the morning -
save for a brief sunny moment near 0830 - which may have kept activity down,
and
the breeze from the north kept things cool. Highlight of the day was an
adult plumaged Yellow-bellied Flycatcher which drew our attention due to its
song, which it repeated several times over the course of a minute. The bird was
perched in a tree near the Potomac River's edge hardly moving save for a few
sallies during the 10 minutes we viewed it. White wing bars, rather long
primary projection beyond the secondaries, yellowish-orange bill ending in a
darkish
bill tip, yellow throat down to the vent along the central axis with the
pects colored grayish, the vent exhibited a few grayish feathers too. I
wonder
if this fellow was way off course from the interior and is just now moving down
south. But, who knows!
The other highlights of the day were, Sharpie, a few Bald Eagles including 2
adults doing some upside down displays, Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers, a rather
nice looking Trail's Flycatcher, several Eastern Phoebes, a Philadelphia Vireo
(lots of them about this year!), Red-breasted Nuthatch, several Golden-crowned
and Ruby-crowned Kinglets, four Hermit Thrush, a few Tree Swallows and a
distant group of a dozen swallow sp., single Gray Catbird, 40 or so Cedar
Waxwings,
single Black-throated Green, 20 or so Yellow-rumps, couple of Common
Yellowthroats, four Scarlet Tanagers (yes, we looked at those backs!), some
Song,
Swamp and White-throated Sparrows, single calling Rose-breasted Grosbeak, and
seven Indigo Buntings.
Afterwards, we visited a Belmont Bay viewpoint near the mouth of the Occoquan
and dug up 4 Pied-billed Grebes, a single Caspian Tern, 65 Forster's Terns
and 20 or so American Coots plus all the usual gulls and 450 or so Canada Geese.
Kurt Gaskill
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