While only four people showed up for the regular monthly bird walk at Banshee Reeks this cool, drizzly morning, we had a great time observing various breeding behavior and finding a couple groups of migrating warblers. While we identified 10 different warbler species, we were unable to ID all of them. However, we did have great views of Prairie Warblers, a Palm Warbler, Yellow-breasted Chats, some very vocal White-eyed Vireos, two pairs of foraging Scarlet Tanagers in the same area, and a singing Blue Grosbeak perched on top of a dead tree. Not only did we find Black Vultures on eggs, we saw both Red-bellied Woodpeckers and a Hairy Woodpecker feeding rather noisy young, and a pair of Brown Thrashers consistently carrying food to a scrubby area. Singing Orchard Orioles and Eastern Towhees seemed to be everywhere. It was also nice to see a Great Egret at Banshee; while they are frequently seen at the close-by Dulles Greenway Wetlands Mitigation Project, they are uncommon at Banshee.
For a complete list of the birds observed at Banshee Reeks see the eBird report below.
The regular monthly free bird walk (every 2nd Saturday) 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 Loudoun Wildlife’s upcoming events can be found here.
Good birding!
Joe Coleman and Dori Rhodes for the Loudoun Wildlife Conservancy
Banshee Reeks Nature Preserve, Loudoun, Virginia, US May 13, 2017 8:00 AM – 10:50 AM
Protocol: Traveling
2.5 mile(s)
Comments: Loudoun Wildlife Regular Monthly Bird Walk; cold, drizzly conditions after 2 plus days of rain, heavy at times.
56 species
Canada Goose 1
Great Egret 1
Black Vulture 8
Turkey Vulture 11
Red-shouldered Hawk 1
Red-tailed Hawk 1
Mourning Dove 6
Barred Owl 1
Red-bellied Woodpecker 3
Downy Woodpecker 2
Hairy Woodpecker 1
Pileated Woodpecker 2
Eastern Phoebe 3
Great Crested Flycatcher 1
Eastern Kingbird 2
White-eyed Vireo 3
Red-eyed Vireo 3
Blue Jay 5
American Crow 10
Fish Crow 10
Tree Swallow 2
Barn Swallow 1
Carolina Chickadee 2
Tufted Titmouse 1
House Wren 1
Carolina Wren 3
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 4
Eastern Bluebird 8
Swainson’s Thrush 2
Wood Thrush 2
American Robin 2
Gray Catbird 3
Brown Thrasher 4
Northern Mockingbird 1
Cedar Waxwing 12
Black-and-white Warbler 1
Nashville Warbler 1
Common Yellowthroat 3
Northern Parula 2
Blackburnian Warbler 1
Palm Warbler 1 Clearly seen by all of us and then heard singing (weak buzzy trill after we watched it for a couple of minutes. Constant tail-pumping, dark eyeline, pale rufous cap & yellowish on chest. We thought there was probably 2nd one as well.
Yellow-rumped Warbler 1
Prairie Warbler 6
Black-throated Green Warbler 2
Yellow-breasted Chat 2
Field Sparrow 7
Eastern Towhee 6
Scarlet Tanager 4 2 two pairs, male & female, in the same area; none singing, all bust foraging
Northern Cardinal 8
Blue Grosbeak 1
Indigo Bunting 6
Common Grackle 2
Brown-headed Cowbird 1
Orchard Oriole 6 several males in song & one female with a male
House Finch 2
American Goldfinch 6
View this checklist online at http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S36805946
This report was generated automatically by eBird v3 (http://ebird.org/content/atlasva)