Sixteen people showed up for the Loudoun Wildlife Conservancy/Audubon
Naturalist Society 9 a.m.Butterfly and Bird Walk at the Blue Ridge Center for
Environmental Stewardship in northwestern Loudoun County this morning, led by
Joe Coleman & Mary Ann Good. Every year we do this walk on either Labor Day
weekend or the weekend afterwards and usually have lots of butterflies and
late-summer wildflowers but few birds. This morning was very foggy until about
11:30 a.m. and cool (high 60's/low 70's) until late morning and we had few
butterflies until the last hour or so. We did have 46 species of birds this
year, a lot more than we normally get on this walk, and 13 butterfly species, a
lot fewer than we normally get. Interestingly enough all of us found the fog
lifting on our drive to the Blue Ridge Center but when we entered the Between
the Hills Valley (Blue Ridge on the west & Short Hill Mountain on the east) it
was socked in & stayed that way most of the morning.
We walked the area at the end of Sawmill Road and did the loop into the woods
along Sweet Run from the power cut (Butterfly Alley). Afterwards we walked &
tallied at the Visitor center where we added most of the butterflies and a few
more species.
The highlights of the 46 species were two BLUE GROSBEAKS in the grass next to
the community shares farm, lots of empidonax flycatchers, perhaps as many as
20, a signing WHITE-EYED VIREO, a BLACK-AND-WHITE WARBLER, a WORM-EATING
WARBLER, and several BALTIMORE ORIOLES grouped together.
The trails at BRCES are usually open to the public 7 days a week from dawn to
dusk - check the BRCES website for dates and times of anything special going on
that would limit access to some part of the Center.
Information on the Blue Ridge Center for Environmental Stewardship can be found
at http://www.blueridgecenter.org. Information on the Loudoun Wildlife ;
Conservancy can be found at www.loudounwildlife.org.
Joe Coleman, near Bluemont, Loudoun Co
Location: Blue Ridge Center
Observation date: 8/30/08
Number of species: 46
Canada Goose
Great Blue Heron
Black Vulture
Turkey Vulture
Red-shouldered Hawk
American Kestrel
Mourning Dove
Chimney Swift
Ruby-throated Hummingbird
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Downy Woodpecker
Hairy WP
Northern Flicker
Pileated Woodpecker
Eastern Wood-Pewee
empidonax flycatchers
Eastern Phoebe
Great Crested Flycatcher
Eastern Kingbird
White-eyed Vireo
Red-eyed Vireo
American Crow
Barn Swallow
Carolina Chickadee
Tufted Titmouse
White-breasted Nuthatch
Carolina Wren
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
Eastern Bluebird
Gray Catbird
Northern Mockingbird
European Starling
Cedar Waxwing
Black-and-white Warbler
Worm-eating Warbler
Eastern Towhee
Chipping Sparrow
Field Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Northern Cardinal
Blue Grosbeak
Indigo Bunting
Baltimore Oriole
House Finch
American Goldfinch
House Sparrow
Butterfly species:
Black Swallowtail
Eastern Tiger Swallowtail
Spicebush Swallowtail
Cabbage White
Clouded Sulphur
Orange Sulphur
Eastern-tailed Blue
Great Spangled Fritillary
Pearl Crescent
Monarch
Silver-spotted Skipper
Least Skipper
Zabulon Skipper
