There were 7 participants in yesterday morning's steam bath of a walk at
the Blue Ridge Center for Environmental Stewardship. The highlights for the
group included a YELLOW-BREASTED CHAT along the powercut and a BLUE GROSBEAK
family in the hedgerow along Arnold Rd.
The walk itself began at the end of Sawmill Rd and took the Sweet Run Loop
along the stream and back through the woods. Except when we were close to
the edge there was almost nothing along the stream or in the upland forest.
Afterwards most of us went down Arnold Rd and also paid a short visit to the
Visitor Center to see what we could find in those two locations.
There were a lot of butterflies, 19 species, including, near the Market
Garden, my first Common Checkered Skipper of the summer.
The trails at BRCES are usually open to the public 7 days a week from dawn
to dusk except during the controlled deer hunts in the Fall - check the
BRCES website to make sure that nothing special is 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/directions.html. Information on
the Loudoun Wildlife Conservancy can be found at www.loudounwildlife.org.
We observed:
Black Vulture
Turkey Vulture
Canada Goose
American Kestrel
Rock Pigeon
Mourning Dove
Yellow-billed Cuckoo
Chimney Swift
Ruby-throated Hummingbird
Belted Kingfisher
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Downy WP
Northern Flicker
Pileated WP
Eastern Wood-pewee
Traill's Flycatcher
Great-crested Flycatcher
Eastern Kingbird
White-eyed Vireo
Red-eyed Vireo
Blue Jay
American Crow
Barn Swallow
Carolina Chickadee
Tufted Titmouse
White-breasted Nuthatch
Carolina Wren
House Wren
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
Eastern Bluebird
American Robin
Gray Catbird
Northern Mockingbird
European Starling
Cedar Waxwing
Yellow-breasted Chat
Scarlet Tanager
Eastern Towhee
Field Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Northern Cardinal
Indigo Bunting (lots of juveniles)
blackbird, sp. flock flyover
Common Grackle
House Finch
Am Goldfinch
House Sparrow
Butterflies seen:
Eastern Tiger Swallowtail
Spicebush Swallowtail
Cabbage White
Cabbage White
Eastern Tailed-Blue
Variegated Fritillary
Great Spangled Fritillary
Meadow Fritillary
Pearl Crescent
Red-spotted Purple
Hackberry Emperor
Northern Pearly-eye
Monarch
Silver-spotted Skipper
Common Checkered-Skipper
Least Skipper
Peck's Skipper
Zabulon Skipper
Dun Skipper
Joe Coleman, near Bluemont VA
