VA-Birders,
Friday around midday I visited a few spots around Remington, mostly
concentrating on the sod farms. I found at least two Upland Sandpipers working
the recently disc-harrowed on the north side of Normans Ford Road. The birds
were foraging on the far side of the field, and eventually I lost them when
they went into (or passed through) the taller grassy margins that divide the
fields. The clumps formed by the disc-harrowing are deceptively large, as much
of the time I was only able to see the head and neck of the sandpipers, and if
they bent to pluck something, I'd lose them.
Along the end of Normans Ford Road there were over 120 swallows on the wires
(and would flush if driven past); represented in this group were a few Bank, a
couple Cliff, some Rough-winged, a couple dozen Tree, and the remainder Barn.
This was essentially the only spot I saw swallows, aside from a few Barns here
and there. Two Purple Martins were overhead as well. Good numbers of Horned
Larks were about, with some freshly-hatched youngsters looking quite weird. Two
Savannah Sparrows were in the taller vegetation along the fence on the left
aside the last quarter-mile of the road. An eBird checklist (with a link to a
map) is below.
Grassdale Road had a few Dickcissels singing and seen, an adult female Northern
Harrier, a few Blue Grosbeaks, more Savannah Sparrows, a couple Kestrels, and
three immature Red-headed Woodpeckers working the fence posts, something I see
out there somewhat regularly. A link to the Grassdale checklist is also below.
Other finds included a Solitary Sandpiper at the little wet spot along Savannah
Branch Road (and a Summer Tanager calling for the woods nearby), and in
Culpeper County, the only shorebirds I could scare up were a few dozen
Killdeer.
Cheers,
Todd
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S14785904 ;(Normans Ford Road)
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S14786000 ;(Grassdale Road)
Sent from my iPad
-----------------------
Todd Michael Day
Jeffersonton, VA
Culpeper County
blkvulture@xxxxxxx
-----------------------
