Greetings,
On Friday night Ian Topolsky and I started birding at about eight PM, and
kept at it until about ten AM on Saturday. We planned on hitting a couple of
wetlands on private farms in Prince William and Fauquier Counties, as well as
amassing a pile of Whip-poor-wills in southern Fauquier, hit some spots in
Culpeper County, then catching dawn at Phelps WMA. I've always loved birding
at
night, and this seemed like a fun thing to do.
Problem was the weather. We were hit pretty hard with thunderstorms in late
afternoon/early evening up here, some of them strong. They were cleared out
by eight, but left some strong wind and silent birds in their wake. Lots of
downed trees too, including the one we very nearly plowed into on Rogers Ford
Road. I've noticed in the past that Whip-poor-wills often don't sing much
after
heavy rain in the evening. We didn't get our first until around two AM at
Rapidan despite being in areas where I've had plenty in the past.
Highlights for the night were two Soras near Catlett in Fauquier, a
Chuck-will's-widow in Rapidan, an American Woodcock walking on the road at
Phelps, and
a decent morning of warblers. Other stuff included Whip-poor-wills at Rapidan
and back up in Fauquier predawn, Yellow-billed Cuckoos at just about every
stop, a few Grasshopper Sparrows, a Virginia Rail near Nokesville, and a few
Barred Owls.
Loosely, we started at Germantown Lake at eight with a setting sun to see if
the rain dropped anything onto the lake. Not much happening here, though
three poorly lit shorebirds flew across the lake, and seemed like maybe
Sanderling. We then headed to the Sumerduck and Kelly's Ford area for
goatsuckers,
finding none. We checked the wetland areas near Catlett and Nokesville on
private
property. The Nokesville area had a single Virginia Rail (though there are
more than one there), but it was incredibly loud with frogs, the loudest I've
ever heard. The Catlett wetlands had two soras. From here we went to Rapidan,
arriving at about two AM, at the spot where the Henslow's Sparrow was had 5
May. We didn't get a Henslow's here, but did have a singing Chuck-wills-widow
among five or six Whip-poor-wills. From here it was across the river into
Orange County in hopes of finding some Whips there, but no luck. We then tried
our luck in Madison County, and whiffed there as well. We trucked back up to
Fauquier, and checked some areas south of Sumerduck. Whips were easily found
here.
Next was getting in place at the wetlands at Phelps to be there for first
light. We started down the trail at four-fifty AM. No surprises here, and the
Whip count was low, only five singing. We got to the wetland at about 5:20,
just as the blue was coming up in the east. We had no surprises here though,
nothing unexpected at the wetland (except maybe a Ruddy Turnstone that we
fumbled as it flew out overhead).
The walk out was quite pleasant. We had a couple nice groups of warblers and
such, and the entire walk netted eighteen species of warbler. Numbers below.
No luck with Summer Tanager (lots of scarlets though), but everything else
that's expected there was seen or heard.
After Phelps we checked the sod farms in Remington, finding a good sized
flock of Bobolinks (50+), but no shorebirds. We then went up to Harrison Road,
and were unable to find the Upland Sandpiper last reported 5 May. The heavy
farm equipment was still there. We ran into the land owner and talked a bit.
Seems they recently fertilized the field, which could easily have sent the
sandpiper running. They used a mixture of lyme and human solid waste from
Washington, DC (known as sludge), and flung it all over the place. The smell
is
nauseating.
Warbler totals below.
Nashville Warbler, 1
Northern Parula, 12
Chestnut-sided Warbler, 2
Magnolia Warbler, 2
Black-throated Blue Warbler, 5
Myrtle Warbler, 4
Black-throated Green Warbler, 7
Pine Warbler, 1
Prairie Warbler, 15
Blackpoll Warbler, 2
Black-and-white Warbler, 6
American Redstart, 10
Ovenbird, 18
Louisiana Waterthrush, 1
Kentucky Warbler, 1
Common Yellowthroat, 15
Hooded Warbler, 2
Yellow-breasted Chat, 30
Cheers,
Todd
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Todd Michael Day
Jeffersonton, Virginia, USA
Culpeper County
BlkVulture@xxxxxxx
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