Tanagers at Heart Find a Trifecta of Terns and a Pigeon

Leena McCluney, Pat Whittle, Maria Pla (Birdie) and Linda Nichols are the Tanagers at Heart team. Three of the Tanagers, Leena, Linda and Pat, started the Birdathon bright and early on May 8 at Pat’s house. Last year our group found 100 species and had a few big misses including a Rock Dove (the humble pigeon) and the elusive Wild Turkey. Within minutes of gathering outside our cars we sighted a Rock Dove on the barn across the field and heard a turkey calling in the woods. We danced for joy; it was a great start.

We ended our first checklist with 47 species. We had most of the usual suspects with eight warblers thanks to Leena, our team’s “warbler whisperer”, and lovely looks at a Yellow-throated Vireo. We then hit Beaverdam Reservoir (Reservoir Road entrance) to visit the Osprey nest and pick up some of the brush-lovers like Common Yellowthroat, Yellow-breasted Chat and Indigo Bunting. A surprise was not just one, but a small flock of six Spotted Sandpipers. Gilbert’s Corner gave us a few more birds and we rounded up our first day with visits to Middlesex Pond areas and a quick trip to check out the ponds at Broad Run Stream Valley Park in hopes of some waterfowl. We were rewarded with a few Mallards at Middlesex and beautiful views of a female Blue Grosbeak at Broad Run. Our species collection ended at Thunder Road where the Grasshopper Sparrows were abundant, but the Vesper Sparrows were a no-show.

Day 2, we lost Linda but gained Birdie on our team for an early start at the Algonkian boat ramp. We wandered down to the point picking up a loudly-singing Prothonotary Warbler, but again, no waterfowl.

Most of Day 2 was spent at Balls Bluff Regional Park in a light rain. We were hoping for some new warblers and a thrush or two. Our surprises were seeing a Summer Tanager right in the parking lot, good looks at Chestnut-sided Warbler, seeing and hearing a Swainson’s Thrush, and later seeing a Veery (such a beautiful bird). We then zipped off to Clover Hill Road with the goal of getting Bobolink and Northern Harrier, and the stop delivered both of those and an American Kestrel. Rolling back down Route 15, we thought to stop at Whites Ferry Road as we had no swallows. Purple Martins, Northern Rough-winged and Barn Swallows foraging over the river was the reward. We thought we might have had a Cliff Swallow in there, but alas, no.

We decided to travel back to our cars by going through Morven Park, keeping our eyes peeled when Leena spotted a Dark-eyed Junco — a rare bird as most have migrated north by now. A brief stop at the Old Izaak Walton pond again yielded no waterfowl. Do you sense a theme? Our goal was to then meet up at Claude Moore visitor center. But while in the parking lot, we received a notice that three tern species were foraging up and down the Potomac and were likely visible from Algonkian Regional Park. We didn’t have any terns on our list so we changed plans and headed to Algonkian where we picked up Black, Forster’s and Common Terns: a tern trifecta. The Black Tern was a new bird for all three of us, and a nice reward for our efforts. Our next step was a quick march/run down the sanctuary trail to try to pick up something else, and views of several Common Nighthawks and a lone Swamp Sparrow were our final species.

The Tanagers at Heart were delighted to end our 2025 Birdathon adventure with 106 species (see on eBird: https://ebird.org/tripreport/363796). We had hoped for more waterfowl than the few Mallards we saw, but we were strangely satisfied with acquiring our pigeon.