Seven birders joined Loudoun Wildlife Conservancy for a very pleasant bird walk at the Blue Ridge Center for Environmental Stewardship on Saturday, June 26.
We met and spent a few minutes birding the area right around the Visitor Center before and after the main walk in the central portion of the Center. Not only did we hear a Yellow-billed Cuckoo in the woods next to the Visitor Center we were entertained by a couple of YELLOW-BREASTED CHATS, one of which was very vocal and active right next to where we were tallying at the end of the walk.
Because of the heat we headed over to Arnold Rd and spent most of the morning’s walk in the center’s extensive woods and followed a variety of trails crossing Piney Run twice and Sweet Run twice as well.
We did spend about 30 minutes on the Butterfly Alley Trail along the powercut where we heard BLUE-WINGED WARBLERS, a couple more chats, and saw several butterflies – including this fresh Pipevine Swallowtail shown in the photo by Norm Gresley.
In addition to watching CEDAR WAXWINGS courting we picked up nine warbler species, including a CERULEAN, a KENTUCKY, a REDSTART, a couple of OVENBIRDS, great views of a vocalizing LOUISIANA WATERTHRUSH, and one WHITE-EYED VIREO along with numerous ACADIAN FLYCATCHERS, RED-EYED VIREOS, BLUE-GRAY GNATCATCHERS, and INDIGO BUNTINGS. As we were walking back to our cars after tallying we got great views of a GRASSHOPPER SPARROW vocalizing.
Additionally we saw quite a few butterflies species including a PIPEVINE SWALLOWTAIL, a couple of Zebra Swallowtails, several Great-spangled Fritillaries, a Meadow Fritillary, several Red-spotted Purples, a very worn Northern Pearly-eye, and a Monarch.
Joe Coleman
Location: Blue Ridge Center for Environmental Stewardship
Observation date: 6/26/10
Number of species: 56
Black Vulture, Turkey Vulture, Red-shouldered Hawk, Red-tailed Hawk (Eastern), Mourning Dove, Yellow-billed Cuckoo, Chimney Swift, Red-bellied Woodpecker, Downy Woodpecker, Hairy Woodpecker, Pileated Woodpecker, Eastern Wood-Pewee, Acadian Flycatcher, Eastern Phoebe, Great Crested Flycatcher, Eastern Kingbird, White-eyed Vireo, Red-eyed Vireo, Blue Jay, American Crow, Fish Crow, Barn Swallow, Carolina Chickadee, Tufted Titmouse, White-breasted Nuthatch, Carolina Wren, House Wren, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, Eastern Bluebird, Wood Thrush, American Robin, Northern Mockingbird, Brown Thrasher, European Starling, Cedar Waxwing, Blue-winged Warbler, Northern Parula, Cerulean Warbler, American Redstart, Ovenbird, Louisiana Waterthrush, Kentucky Warbler, Common Yellowthroat, Yellow-breasted Chat, Eastern Towhee, Chipping Sparrow, Field Sparrow, Grasshopper Sparrow, Song Sparrow, Northern Cardinal, Indigo Bunting, Red-winged Blackbird, Common Grackle, Brown-headed Cowbird, American Goldfinch, House Sparrow.