Hello VA-Birders,
This morning I hit one of the Priority Blocks for the Virginia Breeding Bird
Atlas, known as Arcola-SE. This block is dominated by the residential
development of South Riding, on the north side of Braddock Road; and by a
private parcel of land, Ticonderoga Farms, on the south side.
In spite of these, I have found some good, accessible areas for birds. One is
the section of Elklick Run (stream), just S of Braddock Road. I did not get
there, today. Another is the portion of Bull Run that goes behind (West of)
the Marbury Estates development, on the W side of Gum Spring Road. I've
identified a few more, but these two are my favorites so far.
Today I visited the Bull Run bend, reaching it via the powerline cut through
Marbury; and also the pond under the cell tower at the SE corner of Braddock
and Gum Spring.
So with those details out of the way, here are the First-Of-Season (for me, in
Virginia) birds I found today.
Eastern Kingbird
Black-throated Blue Warbler
American Redstart
Yellow-breasted Chat
Orchard Oriole
For the Breeding Bird Atlas, today I was able to confirm Eastern Kingbird
(building a nest on a high tension tower), Eastern Bluebird (female occupying a
natural nest site, a woodpecker hole) and Field Sparrow (carrying nesting
material).
For later follow-up, I noted a M-F pair of Wood Ducks in Bull Run - check for
fledged young later. Yellow-breasted Chat singing his head off, in the
powerline cut, just above the hill E of where the lines cross the river; also
singing male Yellowthroats. Two singing male Indigo Buntings and three
separate M-F pairs of Orchard Orioles in perfect habitat - keep an eye on them.
Ditto, Goldfinches.
And I have had to interrupt writing this email TWICE to pull crawling ticks
off my neck and arms.
Happy springtime everyone --
Steve Johnson
Fairfax, Virginia
