Sixteen people showed up for the regular monthly bird walk at the Banshee Reeks Nature Preserve which was led by Joe Coleman & Jane Yocom today. It stayed chilly & cloudy the entire walk & except for a larger than normal number of ducks for Banshee in both individuals & species & a very large number of Ring-billed Gulls we had to work pretty hard to find 34 species. Among the ducks was the highlight of the walk, one female Common Goldeneye, along with 15-20 Gadwall, a small group of wigeon, & a drake Hooded Merganser. The ducks were on the old beaver pond near the silos and the pond visible from the Visitor Center with the Goldeneye on the beaver pond. Sparrows were few & far between with the most interesting being a couple of Savannah Sparrows in the scrub on the south side of the Visitor Center. We were also surprised by how few woodpeckers we saw or heard.
After the Banshee Reeks bird walk a few of us stopped by the Dulles Wetlands to check out the Bald Eagle nest from Oatlands Mill Road. We found one eagle in the nest eating something and another perched next to it. After a few minutes the one in the nest flew away & the other went in the nest.
On the way to the walk I saw a large raptor hunting in the scrub along the side of the road which landed in a tree with its back to me. When I stopped to check it out, a beautiful and large Barred Owl turned its head all the way around to look directly at me.
See below for a complete eBird list of the birds seen at Banshee Reeks and the Dulles Greenway Wetlands Mitigation Project.
The regular monthly free bird walk (every 2nd Sat) at the Banshee Reeks Nature Preserve is sponsored by the Loudoun Wildlife Conservancy (www.loudounwildlife.org) and the Friends of Banshee Reeks (www.bansheereeks.org); information on both and their upcoming events can be found on their websites.
Good birding,
Joe Coleman, near Bluemont, Loudoun Co
Banshee Reeks Nature Preserve – MFF08, Loudoun, US-VA
Feb 8, 2014 8:00 AM – 10:35 AM
Protocol: Traveling
1.5 mile(s)
34 species
Canada Goose 500 While there were 500+ geese in a field on the other side of the Goose Creek, we also saw several flocks flying back & forth so could have easily been more than 500.
Gadwall 18
American Wigeon 7
Mallard 13
Ring-necked Duck 1
Common Goldeneye 1 Brown head with golden eye, grayish body & clearly seen by some of the group before flushing
Hooded Merganser 1
Black Vulture 2
Turkey Vulture 4
Red-shouldered Hawk 2
Ring-billed Gull 500 Were streaming back & forth to the neighboring landfill during the entire walk with prob. more than 500.
Rock Pigeon (Feral Pigeon) 6
Mourning Dove 6
Belted Kingfisher 1
Red-bellied Woodpecker 3
Downy Woodpecker 3
Northern Flicker 1
Blue Jay 3
American Crow X
Fish Crow X By far the most common crow this morning.
Carolina Chickadee 3
Tufted Titmouse 5
White-breasted Nuthatch 2
Carolina Wren 6
Eastern Bluebird 4
American Robin 1
Northern Mockingbird 6
Eastern Towhee 1
Savannah Sparrow 2
Song Sparrow 12
White-throated Sparrow 12
Dark-eyed Junco 10
Northern Cardinal 2
American Goldfinch 2
View this checklist online at http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S16843559
This report was generated automatically by eBird v3 (http://ebird.org)