VA BIRDers,
Such great winter birds in Northern Virginia this year! I joined up with Linda
Millington and we viewed the juvie (prob. light-morph male) Rough-legged at
North Fork Wetlands early this morning. Fairfax Audubon is working on a plan
to get more regular field trips into this area so please do not go through the
gate (even if it is unlocked) unless you have specific permission from the Boy
Scouts (DC area council). This location also yielded many No. Harriers,
several Red-tailes, Am. Kestrels and 2 Common Ravens flying parallel to
Thoroughfare Rd early this morning. The Red-headed WP still is hanging out
along the face of the northern forest edge.
Nokesville was great, including a fine Merlin show. The first part was near
Parkgate Rd where a bird went after the considerable E. Starling flocks in the
area. The Horned Larks (ca. 50), 2 Lapland Longspurs and Snow Bunting were
unnoticed. Later, near a big field close to Cedar Run on Fleetwood, another
Merlin harrassed several dozen Starlings in a tree. During the encounter, a
second Merlin joined in, and the two interacted a bit - the second was about
20% larger suggesting it was a female. So it appears at least 2 Merlins and
perhaps 3 are present in the Nokesville farms area. Several more No. Harriers,
Red-tails, and Kestrels also hung out near the Cedar Run fields.
In between Merlins, a big Sharpie landed a Starling off of Fleetwood north of
Aden Rd. Harrassed by Am. Crows, its catch flew off.
On Fleetwood, south of Aden Rd at the dairy farm, at least 14 Brewer's hung out
with the cows, at least 4 of which were females at about 2 pm. The glossy
green-black backs and flanks were readily apparent!
I must add, that all of these fine winter reports these past few weeks have
been great reading! Please keep it up! By the way, I don't suppose anyone has
any new hummers visiting No. Virginia locations?
Kurt Gaskill
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