So it begins. . . Spring migrants are arriving throughout the county, and for these few days before the trees really leaf out the views can be pretty great. This means sleep deprived birders can be found all over the area, and they're reporting lots of 'first of the season' sightings.
On April 17th a group of us headed to Moore's Creek Reservoir to see what we might find. If you haven't been there its a very nice hike - drive out BlueGrass Trail 1.7 miles past where it changes to gravel, then right on Forest Service Rd 3079 for about a mile to the parking area. Highlights included several warblers (including great views of a number of Black and White's circling the trunks of some oaks), and a Red Shouldered Hawk flying over the water. Here's the list of what we saw and heard;
Fish Crow
Red Tail Hawk
Titmouse
Blue Jay
Northern Cardinal
Raven
Louisiana Waterthrush
Cowbird
American Crow
Blue Headed Vireo
Black-throated Green Warbler
Turkey Vulture
Hooded Warbler
Chickadee
Red Shouldered Hawk
Red Bellied Woodpecker
Downy Woodpecker
Pileated Woodpecker
Ovenbird
Pine Warbler
Black and White Warbler
Carolina Wren
Kingfisher
Blue Grey Gnatcatcher
Ruby Crowned Kinglet
Hairy Woodpecker
Mourning Dove
We're planning to make a regular thing of these Thursday morning outings. We'll let everyone know where we plan to go and when and where we'll meet each week.
Bob Biersack
Here's a report from Alexia about the club's outing to Brushy Hills on April 19.
A small group met at 7 am at Town Spring and explored for birds, Paul Cabe leading along with his son Lock (founder of the Kids' Bird Club). Below is the list of species heard and/or seen. We were especially delighted to hear a wood thrush singing, first of the season for most of us.
Several times along the trail we heard ovenbirds "teacher"-ing but couldn't find them; as Paul remarked, they tend to stay still while singing and, without movement, are hard to spot. Then, towards the end of our walk, Lock saw an ovenbird perched on a branch, not making a sound, moving only its head as it occasionally looked around! The rest of us were one by one able to pick it out against the dry-leaves background.
Broad-winged hawkRed-tailed hawk
Red-bellied woodpecker
Downy woodpecker (including a pair foraging together)
Northern flicker
Pileated woodpecker
Blue-headed vireo (heard)
Blue jay
American crow
Tufted titmouse
Carolina chickadee
White-breasted nuthatch
Carolina wren
Blue-gray gnatcatcher
Eastern bluebird
American robin
Wood thrush
Black-throated green warbler (heard)
Ovenbird
Northern cardinal
Eastern towhee
White-throated sparrow
Brown-headed cowbird
American goldfinch
Alexis Smith
Dick Rowe has also reported on some late week birding;
I did a little birding on Thurs and Friday afternoons. On Thursday I visited Old Farm Rd Pond and Sky Farm (both are private spots). At OFRP, there were 3 female Ring-necked Ducks, several Swamp Sparrows, 3 Yellow-rumped Warblers, lots of Tree and Rough-winged Swallows, and 2 Pied-billed Grebes. The grebes are interesting because in 2011 a pair nested there. Go to this link and scroll down to see the photos of the PBGR at OFRP. They represent one of the few, nesting records for PBGR in the mountains and valley region of VA.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/vmibiology/sets/72157626122644696/
On Thrus, Kerry Kilday located a White-eyed Vireo at McCormick’s Farm. I went up there this afternoon to look for it. I found it along the nature trail where it parallels Marl Creek. There were a number of Ruby-crowned Kinglets there and a single Solitary Sandpiper at the back pond, which is now full. Kerry found 3 SOSA there yesterday. In addition there were several Blue-gray Gnatchers there. Last weekend I found 2 Purple Finches there, but none were seen or heard today.
I’ve posted some photos of the White-eyed Vireo, Swamp Sparrows, and Pied-billed Grebes on the Flickr site, if you are interested.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/vmibiology/
Dick Rowe
On April 17th a group of us headed to Moore's Creek Reservoir to see what we might find. If you haven't been there its a very nice hike - drive out BlueGrass Trail 1.7 miles past where it changes to gravel, then right on Forest Service Rd 3079 for about a mile to the parking area. Highlights included several warblers (including great views of a number of Black and White's circling the trunks of some oaks), and a Red Shouldered Hawk flying over the water. Here's the list of what we saw and heard;
Fish Crow
Red Tail Hawk
Titmouse
Blue Jay
Northern Cardinal
Raven
Louisiana Waterthrush
Cowbird
American Crow
Blue Headed Vireo
Black-throated Green Warbler
Turkey Vulture
Hooded Warbler
Chickadee
Red Shouldered Hawk
Red Bellied Woodpecker
Downy Woodpecker
Pileated Woodpecker
Ovenbird
Pine Warbler
Black and White Warbler
Carolina Wren
Kingfisher
Blue Grey Gnatcatcher
Ruby Crowned Kinglet
Hairy Woodpecker
Mourning Dove
We're planning to make a regular thing of these Thursday morning outings. We'll let everyone know where we plan to go and when and where we'll meet each week.
Bob Biersack
Here's a report from Alexia about the club's outing to Brushy Hills on April 19.
A small group met at 7 am at Town Spring and explored for birds, Paul Cabe leading along with his son Lock (founder of the Kids' Bird Club). Below is the list of species heard and/or seen. We were especially delighted to hear a wood thrush singing, first of the season for most of us.
Several times along the trail we heard ovenbirds "teacher"-ing but couldn't find them; as Paul remarked, they tend to stay still while singing and, without movement, are hard to spot. Then, towards the end of our walk, Lock saw an ovenbird perched on a branch, not making a sound, moving only its head as it occasionally looked around! The rest of us were one by one able to pick it out against the dry-leaves background.
Broad-winged hawkRed-tailed hawk
Red-bellied woodpecker
Downy woodpecker (including a pair foraging together)
Northern flicker
Pileated woodpecker
Blue-headed vireo (heard)
Blue jay
American crow
Tufted titmouse
Carolina chickadee
White-breasted nuthatch
Carolina wren
Blue-gray gnatcatcher
Eastern bluebird
American robin
Wood thrush
Black-throated green warbler (heard)
Ovenbird
Northern cardinal
Eastern towhee
White-throated sparrow
Brown-headed cowbird
American goldfinch
Alexis Smith
Dick Rowe has also reported on some late week birding;
I did a little birding on Thurs and Friday afternoons. On Thursday I visited Old Farm Rd Pond and Sky Farm (both are private spots). At OFRP, there were 3 female Ring-necked Ducks, several Swamp Sparrows, 3 Yellow-rumped Warblers, lots of Tree and Rough-winged Swallows, and 2 Pied-billed Grebes. The grebes are interesting because in 2011 a pair nested there. Go to this link and scroll down to see the photos of the PBGR at OFRP. They represent one of the few, nesting records for PBGR in the mountains and valley region of VA.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/vmibiology/sets/72157626122644696/
On Thrus, Kerry Kilday located a White-eyed Vireo at McCormick’s Farm. I went up there this afternoon to look for it. I found it along the nature trail where it parallels Marl Creek. There were a number of Ruby-crowned Kinglets there and a single Solitary Sandpiper at the back pond, which is now full. Kerry found 3 SOSA there yesterday. In addition there were several Blue-gray Gnatchers there. Last weekend I found 2 Purple Finches there, but none were seen or heard today.
I’ve posted some photos of the White-eyed Vireo, Swamp Sparrows, and Pied-billed Grebes on the Flickr site, if you are interested.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/vmibiology/
Dick Rowe
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