Bruce Hill, Gerry Hawkins and had a great day in Loudon Co. while participating
in the Loudon Co. Birdathon. We started at 5:30am at Bles Park and ended at
around 5pm at Beaverdam Reservoir. In between we visited Algonkin Park,
Horsepen Preserve, Balls Bluff Park, Temple Hills Park, Lucketts area, and
Banshee Reeks. We ended up with 104 species. Highlights were 19 warblers
(including cerulean at Algonkin), black-billed cuckoo at Bles before sunrise,
least flycatcher at Balls Bluff, and 3 Virginia rails at Dulles Wetlands (but
none of the other great birds birds reported by Joe Coleman yesterday).
Migrants were hard to come by. Balls Bluff provided the most excitement, in
terms of migrant warblers.
All in all a fun day.
Marc Ribaudo
Woodbridge, VA
