Hola,
I spent Thursday morning with Ian Topolsky and Bruce Jones at Bruce's
property in Rappahannock County. He's been working for years to plant native
grasses, shrubs, and trees on his couple-hundred acres, and his hard work
and dedication are certainly being rewarded with rich birdlife. We've been
making monthly and lately bi-weekly walks of his property since fall, and
have been enjoyed hundreds (probably thousands) of sparrows that have
wintered. As migration is moving along, we've been observing the wildlife his
land attracts. While it is still very early in migration, I suspect he'll be
able to boast an impressive suite of breeding grassland birds, and others.
Today's highlight was probably the dozen or so Vesper Sparrows that we
found in two areas, with a couple in full throat. I won't be surprised if at
least a pair sticks to nest. We also had good numbers of singing Savannah
Sparrows, almost certain to breed here. We had a total of nine sparrow
species, and we didn't note a Chipping Sparrow, which was present a week
prior. He has a Black Vulture on two eggs in a vacant silo, and she hissed at
us as we peeked in today. We noted a Red-tailed Hawk nest as well.
Drumming Ruffed Grouse was heard in his woods, and many Ruby-crowned Kinglets
were
singing. Thrasher numbers have been building for two weeks there, with
one noted first, then two last week, and at least a half-dozen today.
eBird list follows:
Observation date: 4/9/09
Notes: Cool morning to start, temps in the low thirties with evidence
of a frost overnight. Mostly sunny, variable breeze.
Canada Goose 2
Wood Duck 2 Pair
Ruffed Grouse 1 Drumming
Wild Turkey 1
Black Vulture 2 On eggs in silo
Turkey Vulture 2
Red-shouldered Hawk 2
Red-tailed Hawk 2 One on nest
American Kestrel 4
Mourning Dove 4
Barred Owl 2 Calling
Red-bellied Woodpecker 6
Downy Woodpecker 4
Northern Flicker 4
Pileated Woodpecker 2
Eastern Phoebe 6
Blue Jay 12
American Crow 12
Fish Crow 2
Common Raven 2
Tree Swallow 20
Carolina Chickadee 10
Tufted Titmouse 6
White-breasted Nuthatch 2
Carolina Wren 6
Ruby-crowned Kinglet 10 Many singing
Eastern Bluebird 20
American Robin 18
Northern Mockingbird 10
Brown Thrasher 6 Singing
European Starling 200
Yellow-rumped Warbler 4
Pine Warbler 2
Eastern Towhee 12
Field Sparrow 24
Vesper Sparrow 12 Two different areas, some singing
Savannah Sparrow 18 Singing
Song Sparrow 30
Swamp Sparrow 1
White-throated Sparrow 50
White-crowned Sparrow 6
Dark-eyed Junco 2
Northern Cardinal 20
Red-winged Blackbird 6
Eastern Meadowlark 20
Common Grackle 35
Brown-headed Cowbird 6
Purple Finch 1
Pine Siskin 2
American Goldfinch 12
This report was generated automatically by eBird v2(_http://ebird.org_ ;
(http://ebird.org) )
Cheers,
Todd
---------------------------------
Todd Michael Day
Jeffersonton, Virginia
Culpeper County, USA
blkvulture@xxxxxxx
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