This week the Loudoun Wildlife Conservancy is hosting it annual Birdathon
(http://www.loudounwildlife.org/IMBD_Birdathon.htm). In this annual fund
raiser a bunch a crazy, obsessed, fanatical or maniacal birders (depending
ones point of view) are trying to find as many bird species as possible
during a 24 hour period within Loudoun County. Proceeds of the event support
the LWC.
Last Saturday was the kickoff of this event. The Raven Loonatics (Bruce,
Larry, Donna and Gerco) started at a leisurely time of 5 am on our quest of
at least 110 species. That is one more compared to our total from last year.
Migration was in full swing and we were not disappointed. We started out in
Algonkian regional park along the Potomac river. A funny looking posted
turned out to be a Barred Owl. We observed the bird for several minutes
while the owl was staring back at us. Along the river we found several Great
Egrets (a species that eluded us in the past 2 years), a few Hooded
Mergansers and a Mute Swan. Across the river an American Bittern was calling
but this bird was not heard by all. Warblers were out in force. We quickly
located Blackpoll, Redstart, Magnolia, Chestnut-sided and the various
black-throated something Warbler. Next up was Horsepen Park. A Green Heron
was our best bird there. After birding the first few hours in nature, it was
time to explore the suburbs. The various lakes in Sterling and Ashburn were
productive. We picked up Common Loon, American Coot, Ruddy Duck, and
flyovers of Broad-winged Hawks. One of the birds was a very dark morph. Way
cool. Quickly leaving the suburbs behind we visited Ball Bluff and were
greeted by a Ovenbird. We had a hard time finding an Arcadian Flycatcher,
but we did manage. Naturally after that we tripped over the bird at nearly
all other stops. Funny how that works. The far northern part of Loudoun
County is fortunately not too build up and various grassland birds were
found in these rural areas. Our best birds were Horned Lark, Worm-eating
Warbler, Bobolinks, Dickcissel, Bald Eagle and Osprey. Following a mad dash
across the county to Blue Ridge Center we managed to find Yellow-breasted
Chat, Blue-winged Warbler, a turkey we couldn't count, more Grasshopper
Sparrows (those birds were everywhere) and Indigo Buntings. Along one of the
creeks were got stellar nearly eye-level looks of Cerulean and Kentucky
warblers. Both birds were curious and showing of. That was awesome. Another
mad dash back to the east side of Loudoun brought us to the Broadlands
Wetlands (the van metre preserve or something like that is it's official
name). This small park with a fantastic boardwalk is a great location for
migrating shorebirds. We found Greater Yellowlegs, Least Sandpiper, Spotted
and Solitary Sandpipers, but the best of all was a Pectoral Sandpiper. Not
too impressed by all the sandpipers ruling the wetlands, a pair of
Blue-winged Teal were resting under a few brushes. Cha Ching! It being close
to 730pm it was time for our last stop-the Dulles Wetlands. This area is not
publicly accessible, but you can visit it during a LWC hosted walk. At the
wetlands we scored Lesser Yellowlegs, a few more Blue-winged Teal, and
eventually a Virginia Rail. By 8:30pm we were done and hungry as a bunch of
wolfs. Must remember to bring more food next year.
We recorded an amazing number of 122 species in Loudoun County. Our team
total, following the Birdathon rules, was 118! That was for most of us, our
biggest US birding day ever. Pretty amazing that we found that many species.
Misses we had too. Most notably were Hairy Woodpecker, Sharp-shinned and
Cooper's Hawk, and Rose-breasted Grosbeak. Tough birds were Ruby-throated
Hummingbird (only seen by two team members), Blue Grosbeak and American
Kestrel. Funny how this work, some days you trip over them but other days
they must be hiding behind the bushes.
As always we had a blast doing this. We shall do this again next year.
Photos: http://www.pbase.com/sheger/bat2012
Gerco
Raven Loonatic
