Fully-palmated Birders Find More Mergansers and Fewer Warblers

The Fully-palmated Birders reconvened for the 2024 edition of the  Birdathon on Saturday and Sunday, May 4 and 5. The team had a personnel change again this year with Michael Myers departing for a great new job. He was ably replaced by Mer Mietzelfeld, who joined Mike Sciortino, Mike Scott and John Denice.  We recorded 116 species after visiting 12 different locations throughout the county (one of them twice). We hiked over 14.5 miles in search of Loudoun bird species over the two-day period. Last year we recorded 126 species with no mergansers and lots of warblers. This year we had all three merganser species, but many fewer warblers. The rain on Saturday had a big impact. The rain  supposed to be worse Sunday, but it wasn’t, so that helped.

The team started at 5:15 am at the Algonkian Regional Park boat ramp as our first location of the day. We got there really early hoping to get both Barred and Great Horned owls. We did get the Barred Owl, but the Great Horned eluded us again this year. We had 63 species, which was 15 less than last year. Lower numbers was going to be a recurring theme on this rainy Saturday. A few highlights were two Veerys, a Common Loon and a Rose-breasted Grosbeak. We were able to record a Black-and-white Warbler, Common Yellowthroat, Northern Parulas, Redstarts, a Chestnut-sided Warbler, both Black-throated Blue and Green Warblers, a Yellow Warbler and a Yellow-rumped Warbler. Baltimore and Orchard Orioles were vocal along the trail as well. We moved to the Waterpark area and had great looks at two Ovenbirds, two Swainson’s Thrushes and heard a Scarlet Tanager.

Our next stop was going to be Bles Park, but Bruce Hill had spotted a Black-bellied Plover at the Verizon Ponds. Not wanting to miss this opportunity, we went directly there. It was a great birding social with multiple other teams and many other birders there all getting a good look at the rare plover. We also added Hooded Mergansers, Northern Rough-winged Swallows and Solitary Sandpipers at this location.

We had now cut the corner on our planned route and had to decide where to go next. We went to Loudoun Water, and as soon as we got there Bryan, Allison and Jane (the Gone Pishing team) showed up. We birded together and were lucky enough to see a Wild Turkey, Grasshopper Sparrow, and thanks to Gone Pishing, Horned Larks.

We tried Loudoun County Wetlands and Stream Bank Phase III since it was right next to Loudoun Water. It was very nice habitat, but we did not add any species there.

Next up was Broad Run Stream Valley Park at the junction of the Loudoun County Parkway and Evergreen Mills Road in the Dulles South area. This location has become quite the birding hotspot along Broad Run and is ranked number 16 in the number of species recorded in Loudoun County. We traveled 2.5 miles and recorded 37 species compared with 64 species last year. John Denice had just been there earlier in the week and had 61 species by himself. So we were disappointed to only add a Cape May Warbler and Red-headed Woodpecker.

Next was Thunder Road where we hoped to get a Northern Harrier and Meadowlarks. We did get those and were pleasantly surprised to also see two Bobolinks. Another species we picked up was a Savannah Sparrow.

After that we headed to Middlesex Drive Pond back in Dulles South. The pond water level was high so there were not as many shorebirds. We did see a Wilson’s Snipe hiding in the grass on the back side of the pond.

Our last stop on Saturday was Bles Park where we picked up Wood Ducks by seeing the momma and her babies on the pond. Our day one total was 90 species. Even in the rain and with far fewer birds than expected, the team had a good time.

We started Sunday at the Sweet Run State Park at 5:45 am. We were very worried about the weather as storms were predicted. However, the rain held off and we had a really good outing seeing 70 species there. That included some of the birds we went there specifically to find, and some that we had just not found on Saturday. These included: Kentucky, Blue-winged, Hooded, Prairie and Cerulean Warblers; Louisiana Waterthrush; Yellow Breasted Chat; Wood Thrush; Common Rave;, Yellow-throated Vireo; White-eyed Vireo; Acadian Flycatcher; Red Tailed Hawk; Bald Eagle; Kestrel; and Yellow Billed Cuckoo. The team spent over six hours at Sweet Run and covered over six miles of trails.

We decided to make a quick attempt at seeing the Cliff Swallows on the Brunswick bridge. That turned out to be much better than expected. We saw the Cliff Swallows and a Prothonotory Warbler, and Common Mergansers on the Potomac.

Our plan was to hit Meadow Brook Farm Pond on the way to Beaverdam Resevoir, but we forgot and went right past to Beaverdam. We saw three Common Loons there, but did not add to our species total.

We were now pretty tired and looked to see what others were seeing. Someone had seen a Least Sandpiper at Verizon ponds earlier on Sunday. So off we went.  We did see the Least Sandpiper and got a great look at a Yellow Warbler. As we were saying our goodbyes, a Peregrine Falcon flew over and circled giving us all a great look. What a fantastic way to end the Birdathon.

All the driving and hiking was well worth it. It was a pleasure to participate with the other awesome teams, and to raise money and awareness for Loudoun Wildlife Conservancy during this worthwhile event.

Read about the adventures of the other teams on the 2024 Birdathon Team Summaries page.