All migrant searchers,
This morning I woke up bright and early to see what type
of migration was going on. After being out of the country last year
it was nice to be home in my old stomping grounds! As soon as I
stepped out of my back yard I heard some Carolina Chickadees and
Tufted Titmice making a racket, about 50 feet up in a Tulip Poplar,
low and behold there was a raccoon staring down at me while being
mobbed by my first warbler of the day, a Black-and-White. This was
the start to possibly the best morning of birding I've ever
experienced back behind my house (in Difficult Run Stream Valley
Park). The birds just kept coming... The highlights of the day were:
Worm-eating Warbler which was a lifer for me and gave me outstanding
looks; a Veery that seems to be a little bit early (earliest fall
migration eBird record for Fairfax County) gave great close looks as
well; two Canada Warblers (presumably hatch year (hy)) birds; many
American Redstarts (all were yellowstarts meaning either immature or
female); and an immature Cooper's Hawk five feet away from an adult
Red-shouldered Hawk in a bare tree, if only I had had my camera...
Enjoy migration,
Nick Newberry
Oakton, Fairfax County
Full list below:
Difficult Run Stream Valley Park, Fairfax, US-VA
Aug 24, 2011 7:20 AM - 10:00 AM
Protocol: Traveling
1.8 mile(s)
Comments: A beautiful day out (low 70s and 95% cloudless!) and
this morning provided probably the best birding I've ever experienced
in DRSVP!
Other animals:
Raccoon-1 (50' up a tree pretty much in my backyard)
White-tailed Deer- 3 (scared all three of them from their beds)
Eastern Gray Squirrel- 2+
Northern Pearly-eye- 1 (in the flood plain)
Monarch- 1 (fairly high fly over flying south-west?)
And a few unIDed skippers
Hummingbird Moth
39 species (+2 other taxa)
Canada Goose 15 One flyover flock calling.
Cooper's Hawk 1 Sitting in a tree with an adult Red-shouldered
Hawk. Would have made for a great picture had I had a camera...
Red-shouldered Hawk 4
Red-tailed Hawk 1 Adult calling and being chased by the Red-
shouldereds.
Mourning Dove 2
Chimney Swift 8
Ruby-throated Hummingbird 8 At least, these guys were all over
the place! I did not see any adult males (have the all ready molted
into winter plumage?). They all seemed to be very territorial, even
attacking the hawks.
Red-bellied Woodpecker 2
Downy Woodpecker 7
Pileated Woodpecker 1
Eastern Wood-Pewee 2
Acadian Flycatcher 1
Empidonax sp. 3 Maybe Traill's?
Eastern Phoebe 1
Great Crested Flycatcher 2 One looked young but I couldn't tell
for sure.
Red-eyed Vireo 15
Blue Jay 4
American Crow 15
Purple Martin 1 Flying around. Took me for ever to actually
consider the possibility that it could be a PUMA, then it made sense
(large swallow, dark head, solid dark back, not very forked tail) but
I was really confused for a while. First time I have seen one on this
side of Miller Heights Road.
Carolina Chickadee 13
Tufted Titmouse 7
White-breasted Nuthatch 9
Carolina Wren 10
House Wren 6
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 1
Eastern Bluebird 4
Veery 1 Came out when I was pishing and gave great looks.
American Robin 30
Gray Catbird 5
Ovenbird 1 Reacted strongly to pishing and afforded great views.
Was giving a very distinctive "chup" like call. In the swampy area
just next to the path right after the first bend on the single-track.
Worm-eating Warbler 1 LIFER!!!! Saw when I pished and it came out
of some dense underbrush in the flood plain area. Great views!!!
Black-and-white Warbler 2 Both either Immature, female, or both.
Now I know to look at the scapulars (dark for adult female, light for
immature). Right of the bat after leaving the yard I heard some birds
mobbing something only to see a Raccoon 50 feet up in a tree and the
first BAWW was part of this group.
Common Yellowthroat 1
American Redstart 5 All yellowstarts. One I thought was a hatch
year/first year male but couldn't be certain.
Chestnut-sided Warbler 1
Canada Warbler 2 Both appeared to be immature but now I'm not
sure if they were females...
warbler sp. 2 One looked like a Parula but got away before I
could get better looks. The other looked Blackburnian-ish or Black-
throated Green-ish or something else like that but again got away.
Northern Cardinal 18
Indigo Bunting 1 Singing Male
Common Grackle 43 Flying south-west? except for one flying the exact
opposite direction
American Goldfinch 15 Flying all over the place.
This report was generated automatically by eBird v2 (http://ebird.org)
