While yesterday morning’s regular monthly bird walk at the Blue Ridge Center for Environmental Stewardship wasn’t very birdy, it was a beautiful, though chilly, morning for a walk outside and there were lots of signs of spring.
The most obvious one was many Eastern Bluebirds, at least 15, singing and pair-bonding & in two or three cases even visiting the bluebird boxes on the two trails that Loudoun Wildlife maintains on the center. In one case two males appeared to be squabbling over a female and a box.
There were also a couple of Carolina Wrens giving their long rolling calls as well as lots of Cardinals and Tufted Titmice singing (which they have been doing, at least on nice days, for over a month). Many of the birds, esp. the bluebirds and some of the sparrows, very crisp with rather bright colors, probably because they recently molted.
After the walk I paid a brief visit to Arnold Ln on the south side of the center but it wasn’t very productive either.
For a complete list of the birds see the eBird list below.
Information on the Blue Ridge Center for Environmental Stewardship can be found at http://www.blueridgecenter.org.
Joe Coleman
Blue Ridge Center for Environmental Stewardship – MFF01, Loudoun, Virginia, US Feb 27, 2016 8:00 AM – 11:10 AM
Protocol: Traveling
1.5 mile(s)
Comments: The group spent 2.5 hours around the Education Center and along the Farmstead Loop. After the main walk I drove down Arnold Lane which was also pretty quiet.
28 species
Canada Goose X
Wood Duck 6
Great Blue Heron 1
Turkey Vulture 10
Cooper’s Hawk 1
Red-shouldered Hawk 3
Mourning Dove 1
Red-bellied Woodpecker 3
Downy Woodpecker 1
Northern Flicker 1
Pileated Woodpecker 2
American Crow X
Fish Crow 1
Carolina Chickadee X
Tufted Titmouse X
Carolina Wren 3
Golden-crowned Kinglet 1
Eastern Bluebird 15
Northern Mockingbird 1
European Starling 2
Field Sparrow 1
Dark-eyed Junco 12
White-throated Sparrow 12
Song Sparrow 5
Swamp Sparrow 1
Northern Cardinal 7
Red-winged Blackbird 50 a flyover flock
American Goldfinch 3
View this checklist online at http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S27846973
This report was generated automatically by eBird v3 (http://ebird.org/VA)