A total of 11 birders participated in the Northern Virginia Bird Club walk
at Huntley Meadows Park this morning. We began with an "early bird" walk in
the parking lot area at 7:30 a.m., which proved to be very productive. About
7:45 the sun began lighting up the trees and birds began feeding. We had
mostly good views of 5 warbler species in the parking lot (Magnolia, BT
Green, N. Parula, B&W, Bay-breasted). A Rose-breasted Grosbeak was heard
doing its distinctive "chink" note 3 times and was seen, but only briefly,
but only by one of us. Around 8:45 we finally tore ourselves away from the
parking lot area and worked down the trail towards the wetland area. One
more burst of warblers was seen there, adding Black-throated Blue. At first
the wetland seemed a bit quiet, but we encountered numerous Common
Yellowthroat, 2 N. Waterthrush, and a few Palm Warblers. Best bird of the
day was undoubtedly the Lincoln's Sparrow just past the loop in the
boardwalk, which perched at least twice for good viewing. We added Ovenbird
for our 10th warbler in the small patch of woods leading to the observation
tower. We also had a nice assortment of raptors, including both Sharpie and
Coopers, plus an adult Broad-winged, which apparently roosted in the woods
overnight and took off in a southerly direction after circling a few times.
After the group had pretty much dispersed for the day, Rich Rieger and I and
one other birder managed to find a Red-headed Woodpecker on the return trip,
near the intersection of Heron & Cedar Trails as you would be approaching
the boardwalk. Complete list below.
Coupled with the beautiful weather, it was a great morning to be outdoors.
Thanks to all who came out.
Dave Boltz
Huntley Meadows Park - CMN04, Fairfax, US-VA
Sep 25, 2013 7:30 AM - 12:00 PM
Protocol: Traveling
2.0 mile(s)
48 species (+1 other taxa)
Canada Goose 3
Great Blue Heron 1
Black Vulture 2
Turkey Vulture 2
Sharp-shinned Hawk 1
Cooper's Hawk 1
Bald Eagle 1
Red-shouldered Hawk 2
Broad-winged Hawk 1
Buteo sp. 1
Ring-billed Gull 1
Mourning Dove 2
Red-headed Woodpecker 1
Red-bellied Woodpecker 5
Downy Woodpecker 4
Hairy Woodpecker 2
Northern Flicker 2
Pileated Woodpecker 1
Eastern Wood-Pewee 3
Eastern Phoebe 3
Red-eyed Vireo 3
Blue Jay 7
Carolina Chickadee X
Tufted Titmouse X
White-breasted Nuthatch 6
House Wren 1
Carolina Wren 6
Eastern Bluebird 1
Swainson's Thrush 2
American Robin 16
Gray Catbird 2
Cedar Waxwing 4
Ovenbird 1
Northern Waterthrush 2
Black-and-white Warbler 2
Common Yellowthroat 7
Northern Parula 2
Magnolia Warbler 5
Bay-breasted Warbler 1
Black-throated Blue Warbler 1
Palm Warbler 3
Black-throated Green Warbler 4
Lincoln's Sparrow 1
Scarlet Tanager 1
Northern Cardinal 8
Rose-breasted Grosbeak 1
Red-winged Blackbird 60
Common Grackle 1
American Goldfinch 5
View this checklist online at
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S15253135
This report was generated automatically by eBird v3 (http://ebird.org)
