Twenty-four people participated in today's Raptor Search, sponsored by the
Audubon Naturalist Society and the Loudoun Wildlife Conservancy. Because we
had such a large turn-out we split into two groups, one led by Jon Little
(assisted by B. J. Westervelt & Joe Coleman) and one led by Liam McGranaghan
(assisted by Phil Daley). The trip left the Audubon Naturalist Society's Rust
Sanctuary in Leesburg at approx. 3 p.m.
For many of us it was the best raptor search we had ever participated in. When
Jon Little led us to Montressor Rd, Rt 661, (a couple of mile north of Leesburg
and a couple of miles south of Lucketts & on the west side of Rt. 15) and we
saw our first Rough-legged Hawk the day began to take off. Within an hour we
had seen 4 ROUGH-LEGGED HAWKS (3 light-phase, one dark), two Northern Harriers,
numerous Red-tailed Hawks, a Cooper's Hawks, Kestrels, a flock over 40 Am. Tree
Sparrows and one Red Fox. When we called the other group so they could see the
Rough-legged Hawks they also found a SHORT-EARED OWL eating a vole on a fence
post within feet of their cars. They also watched a dark falcon larger than a
Kestrel (a MERLIN?) being pursued by a larger bird of prey. On the way to
check out a nest used by a Bald Eagle two years ago four Bobwhites crossed the
road in front of Jon. While there wasn't a Bald Eagle on the nest there were
two Red-tailed Hawks pairing off in an adjacent tree.
We then drove to Ebenezer Church Road, Rt. 779, in western Loudoun where we
ran into Bev Leeuwenburg, Ian Topolosky and Karen Coleman watching SHORT-EARED
OWLS. While there had been three Short-eared Owls, a Great Horned Owl (heard)
and a single Red Fox there earlier, only one of the Short-eared Owls and the
Red Fox were still hunting. Just as we were getting ready to leave a BARN OWL
flew into the field and immed. caught something. Of course we postponed our
departure so we could watch it for a while.
If one includes vultures we saw a total of 11 different birds of prey. The
count follows:
Black Vulture 11
Turkey Vulture 17
Northern Harrier 3 (1 gray ghost)
Cooper's Hawk 1
Red-shouldered Hawk 5
Red-tailed Hawk 22
Rough-legged Hawk 4 (3 light, 1 dark juvenile)
Am. Kestrel 3
Merlin 1(?)
Barn Owl 1
Short-eared Owl 3
We also saw:
Northern Bobwhite 4
Red-bellied Woodpeckers
No. Flickers
Eastern Bluebird 18
Am Robins
No. Mockingbird 1
Am. Tree Sparrow 40+
Field Sparrow 2
White-throated Sparrows
White-crowned Sparrows
Song Sparrows
Dark-eyed Juncos
No. Cardinals
Joe Coleman, near Bluemont (Loudoun Co)
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