Greetings,
An Ash-throated Flycatcher was found at about nine-thirty AM at the Eastern
Shore of Virginia National Wildlife Refuge by Ian Topolsky, Tad Finnell, and
myself. It was seen well and photographed by a bunch of folks within an hour
(Brinkley, Heath, Boatwright, Byrd, Taber, Stuart, Williams, Leeuwenburg,
D'Onofrio, Wheaton, Wall, and a couple others whose names I don't know), and
videotaped later in the afternoon (Anderson and maybe others).
The bird was originally found working the edge of a pond nestled in the pines
a bit south and west of the southern portion of the Butterfly Trail. This
pond is not easily seen or found, but it is in the pines, most easily accessed
by heading toward them from the first bend in the Butterfly Trail approaching
from the south. When the bird was re-found, we had it on the field-edge south
of the Butterfly Trail, low in the short pines. It was seen well then, and
heard calling. Later it was in trees near the entrance of the bunker area,
photographed by Sam Stuart. I've since heard that Bob Anderson videotaped the
bird, but I'm unsure where the bird was at that time (though I doubt it was far
from where it was found).
A Cave Swallow was found by Ned Brinkley and seen by Mike Boatwright at
Kiptopeke State Park, watched for about a minute or so. It was over the field
just
north of Maddux Pond.
An Orange-crowned Warbler was seen by Day, Finnell, and Topolsky at ESVNWR
about thirty minutes before the Ash-throated. This bird was very near where
the
road into the refuge splits to go to either the Butterfly Trail or toward
Ramp Road.
Other notables included Goshawk (at the hawkwatch), Sedge Wren (Magotha
Road), Baltimore (presumably) Oriole flying over ESVNWR, Brewer's Blackbird
(not
sure where this was), thousands of robins and icterids, hundreds of Purple
Finches, smattering of Pine Siskins, a late Green Heron, a late Pectoral
Sandpiper,
and some of the regular wintering specialties of the CBBT (Harlequin Ducks,
Long-taileds, three Scoters, Purple Sandpipers, Gannets). Alas no luck with
the Swainson's or probably Harlan's Hawk seen 5 November, nor the Sandhill
Cranes. At least a few Saw-whets were banded overnight, but I'm unsure of the
numbers. It seemed a good night for them to move.
Most of the folks here today will be around Sunday, and I hope to summarize
the rest of the findings later.
Cheers,
Todd
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Todd Michael Day
Jeffersonton, Virginia, USA
Culpeper County
BlkVulture@xxxxxxx
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