VA-Birders,
Last Thursday (14 June), John Orr submitted a report of a Mississippi Kite
to eBird from the P. B. Smith Elementary School near Warrenton, VA. This
afternoon, Perri Borowiecki and arrived at the school around 5:45 and were
immediately treated to three Mississippi Kites flying low over the trees on
the east side of the ball fields at the school. We were standing in the
"bus only" lanes when we saw them. One bird was a full adult, another was
likely hatched in 2011. The third bird was adult-like in body plumage,
however it still retained a banded tail, and the white patches in the
secondaries were not as pronounced as they are in a full adult. I didn't get
a
great look at this bird.
We watched these three birds until they dropped out of view, and then
headed down Route 605 (Dumfries Road) a bit east and turned onto Whippoorwill
Drive. Here we found one perched kite that we watched and photographed for
about ten minutes. The bird then took off, heading south, crossing Route
605. We headed over there and found it or another adult perched atop
another snag on Ashley Drive. The bird stayed perched there for just a couple
seconds before flying back north, toward Whippoorwill, with a small, thin
stick in it's bill. We drove roads a bit more hoping to find further evidence
of nesting (or truly hoping to find a nest), but weren't able to. These
subdivisions have houses relatively close to the narrow roads, and much of
the parking along the streets would put two tires on people's lawns. The
best viewing for these birds is probably from the school; that said, if
getting closer to them in the subdivisions is still appealing, finding an
out-of-the-way place to park and covering some ground on foot might be a good
approach.
The location of the school can be Google-mapped with just "p. b. smith"
and the word "warrenton" in the search field, or you can go to the eBird
checklist included in this email and click the "map" link. From that map you
can easily find Whippoorwill and Ashley Drives.
eBird list here:
_http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S11014762_ ;
(http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S11014762)
Cheers,
Todd
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Todd Michael Day
Jeffersonton, Virginia
Culpeper County
blkvulture@xxxxxxx
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