While heading home today I took a detour to the extreme southeastern
portion of the county and stopped by the pond on Borden Springs Road
looking for anything unusual on the water. There wasn't much going on
there, however I noticed a lot of activity on the other side of the road.
This is where the stream which exits the pond runs through a field of tall,
uncut grass. A number of songbirds where bathing in the stream, including
many of the expected species for the area.
I stuck around for a few minutes and had a couple of surprises. First, a
DICKCISSEL pair showed up briefly and then flew off. A few minutes later I
was surprised again by 4 male and 1 female BOBOLINKS (giving extended looks
from about 40 feet away), which were still hanging around when I left. I'd
seen these two species only once each so far this year in Clarke and they
were in completely separate locations.
Josh Taylor
Berryville,VA
