The highlight’s of the regular monthly bird walk at the Blue Ridge Center for Environmental Stewardship on Sat., Aug 25, attended by 14 people, were numerous flycatchers, many unidentified, and at least eight dif. hummingbirds.
A tall dead tree on the edge of one of the meadows was populated while we watched by a number of very mobile Cedar Waxwings, both adults and juveniles; a few mimids including at least one Brown Thrasher, Catbird, and a mocker; a few dif. flycatchers, including a Great Crested, a pewee or two, and some pretty active empidonax flycatchers. And while we tried to make at least one of the flycatchers into an Olive-sided Flycatcher, we did not succeed.
Two more mixed flocks in other edge habitat also included a variety of dif. flycatchers including at least one Traill’s, an Acadian & what were probable Acadians, a couple of Pewees: as well as numerous nuthatches, chickadees, and titmice and, in one location a well-seen Yellow-billed Cuckoo. At least three other heard cuckoos were heard in a variety of dif. locations.
Also, while there weren’t a lot of sparrow species there were numerous Chipping Sparrows and Field Sparrows of all ages, and in a couple of dif. locations, Ruby-throated Hummingbirds zipping around and occasionally perching. Saturday morning’s bird walk was led by Joe Coleman & Del Sargent who were assisted by several good birders in the group.
Information on the Blue Ridge Center for Environmental Stewardship can be found at http://www.blueridgecenter.org. Information on the Loudoun Wildlife Conservancy and its many free activities can be found at www.loudounwildlife.org.
Joe Coleman
The complete list follows:
Blue Ridge Center for Environmental Stewardship – MFF01, Loudoun, US-VA Aug 24, 2013 7:45 AM – 7:00 PM Protocol: Traveling 1.5 mile(s) Comments: The group walked from the Education Center to the two meadows and on to the Farmstead Loop, returning partway on the Piney Spur Loop. The highlights of the walk were the many unidentified flycatchers and the numerous hummingbirds (at least 8 were seen). 43 species (+2 other taxa)
Turkey Vulture, Red-shouldered Hawk, Red-tailed Hawk 1, Rock Pigeon 1, Mourning Dove, Yellow-billed Cuckoo 4, Chimney Swift 6, Ruby-throated Hummingbird 8, Belted Kingfisher 1, Red-bellied Woodpecker, Downy Woodpecker, Northern Flicker 1, Pileated Woodpecker 3, Eastern Wood-Pewee 8, Acadian Flycatcher 1, Alder/Willow Flycatcher (Traill’s Flycatcher) 2, Empidonax sp. 5, Eastern Phoebe 2, Great Crested Flycatcher 3, Red-eyed Vireo 4, American Crow, Common Raven, Barn Swallow, Carolina Chickadee, Tufted Titmouse, White-breasted Nuthatch, Carolina Wren, Eastern Bluebird, American Robin, Gray Catbird, Northern Mockingbird, Brown Thrasher 2, European Starling 3, Cedar Waxwing 15, Blue-winged Warbler 1, Common Yellowthroat 4, Chipping Sparrow 10, Field Sparrow 15, Song Sparrow 2, Northern Cardinal, Blue Grosbeak, Indigo Bunting 12, Red-winged Blackbird 1, Orchard Oriole 2, American Goldfinch.