Hello VA Birders:
Fifteen members of the Northern Virginia Bird Club turned out this morning
for a 3 1/2-hour walk in Great Falls National Park (Fairfax County, VA).
Our foray took us from the Visitor Center along the route of the old
Patomack Canal to the canal locks; back along the River Trail to the
Matildaville ruins; down the Matildaville trail to the quarry; and back
along the Old Carriage Road to the Visitor Center. Highlights of the trip
were an Olive-sided Flycatcher, sallying forth from a treetop high above the
canal locks; a Blackburnian and a Kentucky Warbler, the latter observed near
the main parking lot; a Louisiana Waterthrush that Val Kitchens had seen
walking in the Old Carriage Road last year and found again in exactly the
same spot this morning; and 6 White-throated Sparrows, still lingering here
in mid-May. When we started out at 8 AM, both overlooks next to the Visitor
Center were occupied by groups of sunbathing vultures. Not wanting to
disturb them, we didn't go out onto the overlooks and thereby probably
missed some swallows that we would otherwise have seen.
The complete list:
(h=heard, not seen)
Double-crested Cormorant 1
Great Blue Heron 1
Black Vulture 2
Turkey Vulture 9
Canada Goose 5
Osprey 1
Red-shouldered Hawk 1
Red-tailed Hawk 2
Mourning Dove 2
Chimney Swift 18
Ruby-throated Hummingbird 1
Red-bellied Woodpecker 3
Downy Woodpecker 1
Pileated Woodpecker 1
Olive-sided Flycatcher 1
Eastern Wood-Pewee 4
Acadian Flycatcher 1
Great Crested Flycatcher 6
Red-eyed Vireo 25
Blue Jay 4
American Crow 5
Barn Swallow 1
Carolina Chickadee 6
Tufted Titmouse 6
Carolina Wren 1
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 10
Gray-cheeked Thrush 1
Swainson's Thrush 1
Wood Thrush 4
American Robin 1
Gray Catbird 4
European Starling 2
Cedar Waxwing 14
Northern Parula h
Black-throated Blue Warbler 2
Yellow-rumped Warbler 5
Black-throated Green Warbler h
Blackburnian Warbler 1
Blackpoll Warbler 4
Prothonotary Warbler h
Worm-eating Warbler h
Ovenbird 1
Louisiana Waterthrush 1
Kentucky Warbler 1
Common Yellowthroat 2
Canada Warbler 2
Scarlet Tanager 12
White-throated Sparrow 6
Northern Cardinal 6
Indigo Bunting 3
Red-winged Blackbird h
Common Grackle 4
Orchard Oriole 2
Baltimore Oriole 2
American Goldfinch 18
Trip leaders
Charlotte Friend
Dorothy Tella
You are subscribed to VA-BIRD. To post to this mailing list, simply send email
to va-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx. To unsubscribe, send email to
va-bird-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with 'unsubscribe' in the Subject field.
