The Flying Kites Squeeze in Time for Their Fourth Birdathon

This year marked the fourth Birdathon for the Flying Kites (Eric, Kiersten, Abigail, Rua, Sadie and Henry Anderson). Life was busy this year, and with a 6 hour track meet, soccer game and two birthday parties (none of which were in Loudoun), we knew that we’d have to make some adjustments to our usual sprint. But we looked forward to squeezing in as much outdoors as we could to hit many of our favorite spots and see our favorite birds.

Here are a few of the highlights:

• Kiersten and Eric kicked off the Birdathon on Friday evening (May 16) with a quiet hour away from the kids at Thunder Road. It was a good start, with great views of Grasshopper Sparrows and Eastern Meadowlarks (at least 20!), and the sound of American Woodcocks and a Blue Grosbeak.
• Saturday morning, Eric and Rua (who is becoming quite the bird enthusiast) snuck out for about an hour before her soccer game for a quick trek at Algonkian Sanctuary Trail. There was a light sprinkle and the trail was impassable from flooding past the second pond, but we had great views of a singing Prothonotary Warbler just down the Potomac Heritage Trail.
• After the soccer game, Eric, Rua and Sadie hit up a few spots: the boardwalk at Broadland Wetlands, a quick walk around the pond at Claude Moore Park, and a stop at the Golden Meadows neighborhood in Ashburn to (fingers crossed) see the breeding Mississippi Kites. It paid off! Right as we were about to drive away, two kites appeared in a low soar over the neighborhood and then climbed high in the sky almost out of sight in the afternoon thermals.
• In the evening, we finally had the full team together, and we headed to Algonkian Regional Park for a family picnic and a walk toward Sugarland Run to pick up a few more species. We pulled up at the same time as the loud sirens of Loudoun Fire Rescue, which quickly launched a rescue boat into the river and disappeared downstream. There may have been at least a couple on the team (ahem, Henry and Sadie) who felt the thrill of watching the rescue was more exciting than getting nice views of Common Nighthawks swooping around the fields and river as we wrapped up our day.
• Day Two began in normal tradition by picking up donuts on our way out to Sweet Run State Park with its great views of the Blue Ridge Mountains. The birds seemed quieter than usual, but we heard and saw Kentucky Warblers and had great looks at the brilliant blues of Tree Swallows and Indigo Buntings. In addition to our regular loop starting from the visitor center, we also did a loop from Sawmill and Butterfly Alley that didn’t yield many new birds, but became a favorite when the kids saw why it was called butterfly alley.

Overall, we came away with 80 species, which can be viewed on eBird at: https://ebird.org/tripreport/372146. We were 25 species lower than last year, but we hope that we’re teaching our kids that more than the count, it’s the small, memorable moments with birds and nature that make it worth doing this each year. We’ll probably never be able to shake our competitive natures, but moments with Mississippi Kites, Common Nighthawks, Great Spangled Fritillaries and a baby Snapping Turtle are always worth it.