Prior to this morning's bird walk at the Banshee Reeks Nature Preserve, Mary
Ann Good, Gerry Hawkins, Del Sargent, & I met at 7:15 am along rte 15 to look
for the LOGGERHEAD SHRIKE found by Laura Weidner earlier this week in the cold
((33 degrees) drizzle & light fog. Within 5 minutes Gerry spotted it when it
landed on top of a small tree along rte 15 and about 50 yards away from us.
All of us got great looks at it through our binoculars and scopes for several
minutes and decided conclusively that it was a LOGGERHEAD SHRIKE and not a
Northern Shrike. It was on the east side of rte 15 a couple hundred yards
north of the entrance to Little River Farm and about a mile south of the Goose
Creek. It flew away to the east out of sight. The passing trucks (several)
kicked up a lot of water as they drove by. Please note the heavy traffic on
rte 15 and respect private property if you go looking for this bird.
Also along rte 15 in this vicinity on the wires were two AMERICAN KESTRELS, 1
RED-SHOULDERED and a RED-TAILED HAWK.
The highlights of the BANSHEE REEKS walk for the six participants included WILD
TURKEYS wandering down a trail a couple hundred yards away in clear view
(earlier we'd seen fresh tracks and heard gobbling); a BARN OWL (female or HY)
flying away from a mob of crows and hawks on one of Banshee's many trails and
not close to any structure; a COMMON RAVEN, and among 9 different sparrow
species, 2 AMERICAN TREE SPARROWS, a couple of SAVANNAH SPARROWS, and at least
5 FOX SPARROWS.
It was a great day to go birding.
Information on Banshee Reeks which is now open every weekend from 8 am to 4 pm
can be found at http://www.bansheereeks.org. Information on the Loudoun ;
Wildlife Conservancy can be found at www.loudounwildlife.org.
Birds seen (where there is a second check mark/number, it wasn't at Banshee but
close by):
Canada Goose
American Black Duck 1 on pond east of Evergreen Mill Rd were The Woods Rd
intersects it
Mallard 2/12 on pond east of Evergreen Mill Rd were The Woods Rd intersects it
Cooper's Hawk 1
Red-shouldered Hawk 2/2
Red-tailed Hawk 2/2
American Kestrel 0/2 along rte 15
WILD TURKEYS flock walking along one of Banshee's many trails in full view for
several minutes
Ring-billed Gull 2
Rock Pigeon 15
Mourning Dove 14
BARN OWL see notes above
Belted Kingfisher 1
Red-bellied Woodpecker x
Downy WP x
Hairy WP 2 on the section of Banshee Reeks northeast of The Woods Rd
Northern Flicker x
Pileated WP 3
Blue Jay lots
American Crow lots
Fish Crow 1
COMMON RAVEN 1
Carolina Chickadee x
Tufted Titmouse x
White-breasted Nuthatch x
Carolina Wren 2
Eastern Bluebird 20
Hermit Thrush 1
American Robin lots (flocks flying overhead)
Northern Mockingbird 5
European Starling 25
Cedar Waxwing 100+ (at least 3 flocks)
Eastern Towhee 8
AMERICAN TREE SPARROW 2
Field Sparrow 10
Savannah Sparrow 3
FOX SPARROW 5
Song Sparrow 20
Swamp Sparrow 1
White-throated Sparrow 20+
Dark-eyed Junco 20+
Northern Cardinal 8
blackbird, sp. flock flew overhead while we were watching sparrows
House Finch 4
Am Goldfinch 5
House Sparrow on the section of Banshee Reeks northeast of The Woods Rd
Joe Coleman, near Bluemont VA
