VA-Birders,
I briefly visited the sod farm along Bristow Road in Bristow late this
afternoon following a meeting nearby, mainly to check for interesting
shorebirds that may have been there. Unfortunately the only representatives of
their kind were very numerous KILDEER. However, the area looks extremely
promising for good birds to drop in, as there are large areas of low-cut grass
mixed with sizeable chunks of recently scraped acreage. I stopped in the
office to ask for permission to view their fields, and was met with very nice
people who did not mind. I think it may be under new ownership, as the signage
is different. However, anyone afraid of large dogs might view cautiously, as
there is at least one roaming around that can be assuaged if you know how to
handle dogs. Notable were the nice flock of 250+ LAUGHING GULLS present, with
a single RING-BILLED.
I then poked around the fields of nearby Nokesville and never got out of my
car, as the fields there were similarly stocked and bird activity was quite
muted overall. A composite list of both areas is below.
Jay Keller,
Arlington
Canada Goose 23
Great Blue Heron 3
Turkey Vulture 5
Red-shouldered Hawk 2
American Kestrel 1
Killdeer 200
Laughing Gull 250
Ring-billed Gull 1
Rock Pigeon 18
Mourning Dove 15
Ruby-throated Hummingbird 1
Eastern Wood-Pewee 1
Eastern Kingbird 3
Blue Jay 1
American Crow 20
Fish Crow 2
Purple Martin 2
Barn Swallow 40
Carolina Chickadee 1
Carolina Wren 2
Eastern Bluebird 2
American Robin 2
Northern Mockingbird 13
European Starling 310
Common Yellowthroat 2
Chipping Sparrow 55
Song Sparrow 2
Northern Cardinal 8
Red-winged Blackbird 5
Eastern Meadowlark 1
Common Grackle 4
House Finch 2
American Goldfinch 63
House Sparrow 17
