Nine people participated in a birding trip that visited several locations in
central Loudoun and Lucketts today. We began at 8 am at the ANS Rust Nature
Sanctuary (a 68 acre preserve on the edge of Leesburg) where we didn't find
anything unusual, then went on to the Dulles Greenway Wetlands Mitigation
Project (DGWMP) and the Banshee Reeks Nature Preserve (both a little east &
south of Oatlands Plantation), Beaverdam Reservoir, and in the afternoon
Lucketts. While it was pretty cloudy most of the day it was a decent day for
birding until it started raining around 3:30 pm.
We found 55 species of which the highlights included waterfowl, mostly on the
DGWMP & Beaverdam, 2 BALD EAGLES checking out the nest at the DGWMP (one was
sitting in it when we got there), several other raptors including 4 AMERICAN
KESTRELS, an accipiter (prob. a juv. Cooper's) eating a Blue Jay on the ground,
a WILSON'S SNIPE at the DGWMP, a BROWN CREEPER, and at least 3 WHITE-CROWNED
SPARROWS. Unfortunately, we had only six woodpecker species missing Red-headed
WP. Thought we found a fair number of COMMON MERGANSERS at Beaverdam
Reservoir, it continues to be really low.
The complete list follows:
Great Blue Heron 3
Black Vulture 12
Turkey Vulture 20
Canada Goose lots
American Black Duck 1
Mallard 12
Green-winged Teal 13
Hooded Merganser 8
Common Merganser 14
Ruddy Duck 1
Bald Eagle 2
Northern Harrier 1
Cooper's Hawk 1
Red-shouldered Hawk 7
Red-tailed Hawk 5
American Kestrel 4
Wilson's Snipe 1
Ring-billed Gull lots
Herring Gull 3
Rock Pigeon 20
Mourning Dove 25
Belted Kingfisher 2
Red-bellied Woodpecker 3
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker 1
Downy WP 3
Hairy WP 1
Northern Flicker 8
Pileated WP 3
Blue Jay lots
American Crow lots
Carolina Chickadee 6
Tufted Titmouse 7
Ruby-crowned Kinglet 1
Brown Creeper 1
Carolina Wren 3
Eastern Bluebird 27
Hermit Thrush 1
American Robin lots
Northern Mockingbird 4
European Starling lots
Cedar Waxwing 9
Yellow-rumped Warbler 15
Eastern Towhee 7
Field Sparrow 2
Song Sparrow 11
Swamp Sparrow 6
White-throated Sparrow 25
White-crowned Sparrow 3
Dark-eyed Junco 30
Northern Cardinal 13
Red-winged Blackbird 15
House Finch 15
Am Goldfinch 8
House Sparrow 13
Joe Coleman, near Bluemont VA
