Greetings,
Yesterday morning it was 5 degrees at the Battlefield at 8 a.m. for the
Northern Virginia Bird Club trip. Four hardy souls (Molly, Peter, Mike, and
John) joined Dorothy Tella and me for an enjoyable "stroll" around the
Visitor's Center. Although the birds were few, we did get very nice looks at
a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, a Hermit Thrush, and a pine tree full of Juncos.
We listened to two Pileated Woodpeckers calling back and forth. The wintery
scene certainly was beautiful and the air was exhilarating. Cross-country
skiers were making the most of the snow.
After one and a half hours of birding, we decided to carpool over to the
Nokesville area to look for the Brewer's Blackbirds and other goodies.
Unfortunately, we didn't see the brewer's or the longspurs, but we did have
some nice looks at Horned Larks..life birds for several folks. The Eastern
Meadowlarks stood out in their beautiful yellow plumage. Along Parkgate Dr.,
we found many Savannah Sparrows but didn't have time to count them. A Kestrel
zipped through to stir them up, putting on quite a show! I had the pleasure
of finally meeting Ken Bass, who lives out that way, when he stopped to see
what we were looking at. He started to fill me in on the birds that used to
be seen out in Nokesville and I had to listen in wonder.
Laura Catterton
Manassas, Virginia
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