Fully-palmated Birders Visit 11 Locations to Find 118 Species

The Fully-palmated Birders reconvened for the 2025 edition of the Birdathon on May 3 and 4 with last year’s team intact. Kevin Denice joined Michael Sciortino, John Denice, Mike Scott, and Mer Mietzelfeld to round out the team. Overall, we recorded 118 species (and one exotic escapee) after visiting 11 separate locations throughout the county. We tried to be more efficient this year and limit the amount of hiking and maximize our species sightings. We were mildly successful. We really had to work hard for the number of warblers that we saw this year.

The team started at 5:45 am at the Algonkian Regional Park boat ramp as our first location of the day. This location always provides a nice start to the two-day event. We recorded 66 species from the boat ramp with early sightings of a Common Nighthawk and hearing the Northern Bobwhite calling from the Sanctuary Trail area. Unfortunately, our keen-eared Kevin Denice was the only team member to hear the bobwhite calling so we could not count it for the team. Warbler activity was underwhelming but we did see and hear a Yellow Warbler and Blackpoll Warbler in the brush. Baltimore Orioles ruled as we recorded 12 at this location. We spent close to three hours near the boat ramp and then made our way to the waterpark where we recorded 55 species in total. We heard two Barred Owls calling at the end of the walk. This was fortunate as we would not hear or see any other owls during the two days of birding. Warbler activity started to pick up and we heard and saw a Black and White Warbler, a Prothonotary Warbler, and numerous Cape May Warblers. All told, we recorded 83 species at Algonkian and spent almost six hours walking.

Now the going got tough as the species opportunities would be a challenge. Our next stop was at the Brambleton West Community Association Pond for a quick peek to see if there were any shorebirds in the area. We were curious if we could catch the Short-billed Dowitcher seen a few weeks earlier, but it was quiet, and we were too late. We did record a few new species for our overall totals but nothing spectacular to bring us to 85 in total.

Since we were just around the corner, we decided to stop and look at Beaverdam Reservoir from the dock at Reservoir Park. We did not see anything out of the ordinary or that would stand out on our list, but we did add two new species to inch us up to 87. This included our only Osprey sighting of the event.

At Thunder Road, things got interesting and not in a birdy way. We were only at this location for 16 minutes before the Federal Protective Service chased us off like House Sparrows from a bluebird box. They are not allowing visitors to the area any longer, and the officer told us that we needed to contact the operations center prior to visiting, which we had not done. We did not want any trouble or potentially end up in a Salvadoran prison, so we dutifully complied and vacated, but not before recording three new species including a Vesper Sparrow. Unfortunately, we did not get the usual and expected Northern Harrier, and this would be our only real opportunity. We left Thunder Road with an overall total of 90 species with our eyes set on Middlesex Drive Pond.

At Middlesex Drive Pond, on the eastern border of Loudoun County with Fairfax County, we found it quiet. We were able to see a Lesser Yellowlegs and our first Green Heron of the day. The heron was not shy and stayed close by on a reed as we scanned the island. Kevin Denice was able to get a great photo which he uploaded to eBird. Middlesex was the only location where we saw these species, and these capped us at 92 with two more locations on the schedule for the day. It would be close if we were to get to 100 species on Saturday.

Our next significant stop for the day would be Broad Run Stream Valley Park, but not before scanning the ponds near Haverford Square Fields. There has been a lot of residential development in this location over the recent years, but it was still worth the 30 minute stop. As we entered the parking area, we spotted two Wild Turkeys resting in the utility line cut through the woods to the right; this would be our only sighting for the entire event. There was a good amount of warbler activity in the woods that lined Broad Run, and it might have been worth a deeper dive. We were able to see and hear a Red-headed Woodpecker from across the field. This, too, was our first sighting so it made the stop extra-worthwhile.

At Broad Run, we were starting to feel the effects of a long day in the field. We could not pass up the opportunity since this location has become quite the birding hotspot along Broad Run, and eBird ranks it as number 16out of a 100 in the number of species recorded in Loudoun County. We did cut the visit shorter than our usual 2.5 mile circuit due to the oncoming thunderstorms, so we traveled directly to the ponds and came straight back along the same route. We were able to pick up six new species with the highlights being Hooded Mergansers, a Cooper’s Hawk and a Savannah Sparrow. We ended the day after spending an hour and a half at Broad Run and capping the first day at 98 species. We were so close.

As was the case in previous years, Sunday was all about Sweet Run State Park. We delayed our start for the day due to the heavy morning rain and began our walk at 9:52 am at the visitor’s center parking lot. While we were starting our trek, Gone Pishing was finishing their walk, so we felt behind and had a lot of ground to cover. We picked up a quick pair of Wood Ducks flying over and our first White-eyed Vireo without needing to leave the parking lot. We heard a Louisiana Waterthrush near the pond.

We parked at the Sawmill Lane and recorded a quick list of 14 species that included our first Chestnut-sided Warbler. We combined into one car and made our way to Arnold Lane and parked at the terminus. We recorded a total of 62 species at Arnold Lane that included the entire Arnold Lane Road, the trails to and around Gordon Pond, and out to the power line cut via the Woodthrush Trail. We hoped to circle and cut back into the woods using Butterfly Alley, but Sweet Run was too swollen and wide to cross without getting soaked. Our choices were to double back,  continue and get wet or find a southern alternate trail to try and get over the stream. We opted to take the bypass trail south into the woods and onto the Lower Sweet Run Trail that would eventually take us back to the Sawmill parking area where we left the cars. In the end, it really did not matter as the stream was running high in the woods as well, and we would need to cross one way or the other. Mike Scott was the hero of the day and sacrificed his dryness to help the team cross safely. In the end, Arnold Lane turned out to be a 5 mile hike that lasted 4.5 hours. It yielded 11 new species with the highlight of the entire weekend being the Virginia Rail sighting. It was just to the west of the Sawmill parking area down where the Lower Sweet Run Trail cuts through to the field. We were also able to record many warblers including a Kentucky, Hooded, Magnolia, Bay-breasted, Tennessee and Black-throated Blue Warblers. We heard Louisiana Waterthrushes, Ovenbirds, Common Yellowthroats, American Redstarts, Cape May Warblers, Yellow Warblers and another Chestnut-sided Warbler. One notable miss was the Cerulean Warbler that we were sure we would get. We left Sweet Run State Park with 113 species as our overall total.

The day was getting late, and our opportunities were dwindling. We took a quick trip into Maryland and stopped on the Virginia side of the bridge over the Potomac on the Berlin Turnpike. This stop of 15 minutes was for Cliff Swallows,  which we found instantly. This location does give an excellent vantage point of the tree canopy and views down onto the Potomac from overhead. The river was swollen so many of the rock outcroppings were underwater, but  we did spot both a Red-breasted and Common Merganser on the river.

The Bobolinks were calling, and we made another quick stop at Clover Hill Road to see and hear them. This location is our reliable go-to spot for the grassland songbirds, and we saw many Bobolinks in the field along with Eastern Meadowlarks, Red-winged Blackbirds and Grasshopper Sparrows, all of which we recorded previously. We made our way back to the Leesburg area and stopped at our last location of the day, Rust Nature Sanctuary, where we picked up our final species of the event: a single Pine Warbler. We ended at 118 species, but there were still more birds out there, and we were fast losing daylight.

In last ditch effort, the remnants of our team decided that it would be worth the effort to try and find the Mississippi Kite since it was on our way back towards home. and there were recent sightings. We tried a few Ashburn locations, but the raptors were elusive, and the light was gone. We would have to end the event with 118 species, and for that, we were happy. This year was fun, action-packed and exhausting, but always worthwhile to help support Loudoun Wildlife Conservancy. And, thankfully, we did not end up in a Salvadoran prison.

The complete list of species can be viewed on eBird at: https://ebird.org/tripreport/360726.