All,
Today's walk was one of the most productive walks bird-wise that I
have had in a very long time (in Difficult Run Steam Valley Park at
least). With two definite new species for the park (MARSH WREN and
WHITE-CROWNED SPARROW), one possible (PHILADELPHIA VIREO) and a
LINCOLN'S SPARROW I am very happy. One of my first birds once I got
into the old beaver pond/flood plain area was a small bird with its
breast and belly feathers all washed very yellow and some white around
the eye area that looked like a very large broken white eye ring; I
only got to look at the bird for about five seconds but it wasn't a
Kinglet or a female Black-throated Blue Warbler (which the bird kind
of resembled in size). The bird that popped into my mind immediately
was Philadelphia Vireo, but unfortunately I was not able to get better
views of the bird that perched about 15 feet above and in front of me
for those five seconds, it even managed to quickly preen in this
time. Any ideas about what type of bird this could be besides a Phil.
Vireo? It would be really late for one of these uncommon Vireos. The
Marsh Wren was scared up from a little flooded tributary into
Difficult Run and called while flying (the call was much harsher and
louder than a Carolina, House, or Winter Wren), but luckily, this bird
landed and gave me about a minute of viewing time and even posed for
some subpar pics! One thing I noticed about this bird is the angle at
which it held its tail, at all times the tail was pointed strait up.
Finally, the White-crowned Sparrow was an immature found in with a
flock of Song and Swamp Sparrows.
Link to pics of Marsh Wren:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/32293993@N04/6273715060/in/photostream
Full eBird list:
Difficult Run Stream Valley Park, Fairfax, US-VA
Oct 23, 2011 11:45 AM - 1:35 PM
Protocol: Traveling
1.4 mile(s)
Comments: Possible PHILADELPHIA VIREO!!! Field Marks: Fairly small
quite yellow bird with some white on both sides of the eye, like a
very large broken eye ring. Yellow was on breast and belly. No white
wing patch was seen which eliminates BTBW. Bird quickly preened
before flying away never to be seen again.
With Buddy (Dog)
Common Buckeye- 1
White-tailed Deer- 2
Eastern Gray Squirrel- many (10ish)
29 species
Turkey Vulture (Cathartes aura) 2
Red-shouldered Hawk (Buteo lineatus) 2
Mourning Dove (Zenaida macroura) 2
Red-bellied Woodpecker (Melanerpes carolinus) 4
Downy Woodpecker (Picoides pubescens) 3
Pileated Woodpecker (Dryocopus pileatus) 1
Eastern Phoebe (Sayornis phoebe) 3
Blue Jay (Cyanocitta cristata) 5
American Crow (Corvus brachyrhynchos) 40 All in one flock that
seemed to be mobbing something until they suddenly all left the scene.
Carolina Chickadee (Poecile carolinensis) 6
Tufted Titmouse (Baeolophus bicolor) 4
White-breasted Nuthatch (Sitta carolinensis) 2
Brown Creeper (Certhia americana) 2 HO
Carolina Wren (Thryothorus ludovicianus) 4 One or two in full song
Marsh Wren (Cistothorus palustris) 1 Flushed out of one of the
small tributaries to Difficult Run calling, then proceeded to land for
some low quality pictures.
Golden-crowned Kinglet (Regulus satrapa) 1
Ruby-crowned Kinglet (Regulus calendula) 5
Eastern Bluebird (Sialia sialis) 4
Hermit Thrush (Catharus guttatus) 1
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle) (Setophaga coronata coronata) 25
Eastern Towhee (Pipilo erythrophthalmus) 6
Field Sparrow (Spizella pusilla) 2
Song Sparrow (Melospiza melodia) 10
Lincoln's Sparrow (Melospiza lincolnii) 1 Nice views of this one!!
Swamp Sparrow (Melospiza georgiana) 8
White-throated Sparrow (Zonotrichia albicollis) 2
White-crowned Sparrow (Zonotrichia leucophrys) 1 Got two
separated views at different times which means there could have been
two.
Northern Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis) 12
American Goldfinch (Spinus tristis) 4
This report was generated automatically by eBird v3 (http://ebird.org)
Great birding,
Nick Newberry
Fairfax
