Hello fellow birders,
I spent several hours covering one part of my block just southwest of
Purcellville for the Loudoun Co. Bird Atlas this morning. What a great time
of year this is! With few waterfowl and few warblers about here yet, I
found 62 species in a fairly small area. I got a huge surprise when I
stepped into a thicket to see if there were any nests there, and what should
be peering at me from eye level, not 20 feet away, but a cuckoo! And as I
studied it, I realized it wasn't even an early Yellow-billed, but a
Black-billed! I clearly saw all features of a cuckoo, coloration, slim
shape, down-curved bill, long tail (I couldn't see its pattern), and then I
saw the clincher (which I didn't even remember identified it as a
Black-billed until I looked it up)-red eyes. We studied each other for a
good 15 minutes before it hopped to an exposed branch then away.
In addition, I saw the following:
Double-crested Cormorant - 2 flyover
Great Blue Heron
Green Heron - my FOS
Black Vulture
Turkey Vulture
Canada Goose
Wood Duck
Mallard
No. Harrier
Red-shouldered Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk sitting on and near nest
Broad-winged Hawk
Strangely, as still and warm as it was at 11:00, from 10 to 11:00, there
were many vultures soaring, along with Red-Shoulders, Red-Tails, and a
Broad-Wing.
Killdeer
Spotted Sandpiper - 4
Rock Pigeon
Mourning Dove
BLACK-BILLED CUCKOO - long looks at 20 feet
Red-headed Woodpecker - at least 3
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Downy Woodpecker
Hairy Woodpecker
Flicker
Phoebe
Great Crested Flycatcher - my FOS - just one (in my own backyard)
Eastern Kingbird - ~10 (my FOS)
White-eyed Vireo
Blue Jay
American Crow
Fish Crow
Barn Swallow
Purple Martin
Car. Chickadee
Tufted Titmouse
White-breasted Nuthatch
Carolina Wren
House Wren
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher - plucking dried grass for its nest
Bluebird
Robin
Catbird - my FOS
Mockingbird
Brown Thrasher - many pairs
Starling
Cedar Waxwing - ~80 in a treetop
Yellow Warbler - 6 (my FOS)
Yellow-rumped Warbler - guessing 30
Palm Warbler - 2
Yellowthroat - my FOS
Towhee
Chipping Sparrow
Field Sparrow
Song Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow - quite a few, in nuptial finery (no Juncos)
Cardinal
Red-winged Blackbird
Meadowlark - one area of fields had up to 8; unusual for this part of the
county
Grackle
Cowbird
Baltimore Oriole - 3 (my FOS)
Orchard Oriole - 4 (my FOS)
Goldfinch
Like Gerry, I found White-throated Sparrows still here in good numbers;
Hermit Thrush (a few); much fewer Ruby-crowned Kinglets than in the past 10
days; no Juncos seen the last few days.
Happy birding,
Mary Ann Good
Lincoln (western Loudoun Co.)
