Ten of us had a nice bird walk at the Banshee Reeks Nature Preserve Saturday morning with several very active and vocal White-eyed Vireos and Yellow-breasted Chats as the highlights of the walk. We also had several Prairie Warblers and Field Sparrows singing in a variety of locations as well as alarm call, a rapid whip call constantly repeating, that we did not recognize but a couple of us thought might be from some kind of thrush. Indigo Buntings were especially vocal from a number of different perches and one that was singing in the top of a tree next to the parking lot at 7:45 a.m. was still going strong at 11 a.m. While many of the birds were pretty active until 9:15-9:30 a.m., they were much less so after that. Fortunately several butterflies including a couple of Common Wood Nymphs and several swallowtail species came along after that.
White-eyed Vireo.
Photo by Michael Sciortino
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 and the Friends of Banshee Reeks.
Good birding!
Joe Coleman, Jane Yocom, Del Sargent, & Mary Ann Good
Banshee Reeks Nature Preserve, Loudoun, Virginia, US Jul 8, 2017 7:45 AM – 10:45 AM
Protocol: Traveling
2.9 mile(s)
Comments: Regular monthly (every 2nd Sat.) bird walk by Loudoun Wildlife and FOBR; led by Joe Coleman and Jane Yocom assisted by Del Sargent & Mary Ann Good.
51 species
Black Vulture 6
Turkey Vulture 2
Red-shouldered Hawk 1
Rock Pigeon (Feral Pigeon) 6
Mourning Dove 4
Yellow-billed Cuckoo 4
Ruby-throated Hummingbird 4
Red-bellied Woodpecker 4
Downy Woodpecker 3
Hairy Woodpecker 1
Northern Flicker 1
Pileated Woodpecker 3
Eastern Wood-Pewee 6
Acadian Flycatcher 5
Eastern Phoebe 2
Great Crested Flycatcher 1
Eastern Kingbird 1
White-eyed Vireo 6
Red-eyed Vireo 6
Blue Jay 3
American Crow 2
Fish Crow 4
Tree Swallow 6
Carolina Chickadee 4
Tufted Titmouse 3
White-breasted Nuthatch 3
Carolina Wren 2
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 6
Eastern Bluebird 4
Wood Thrush 5
American Robin 7
Gray Catbird 1
Brown Thrasher 3
Northern Mockingbird 4
European Starling 6
Cedar Waxwing 1
Louisiana Waterthrush 1
Common Yellowthroat 4
Prairie Warbler 3
Yellow-breasted Chat 5
Chipping Sparrow 1
Field Sparrow 6
Eastern Towhee 3
Scarlet Tanager 1
Northern Cardinal 8
Blue Grosbeak 2
Indigo Bunting 8 A male that was singing at the top of a tree bordering the parking lot was singing when we met at 7:45 a.m. and was still singing when we left at 11 a.m.
Common Grackle 2
Brown-headed Cowbird 1
Orchard Oriole 4
American Goldfinch 10
View this checklist online at http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S38035167
This report was generated automatically by eBird v3 (http://ebird.org/content/atlasva)