Today was opening day of nest box monitoring season, so I decided to do a
Rusty Blackbird Blitz since Bob Ake was been so nice in asking us to do so.
Most of the box monitoring and birding was accomplished in a light, but
steady rain. And yes, I do not have brains enough to come in out of the
rain. Only one box gave indication of nest building preparation. I found
four white feathers in a box while a Tree Swallow pair was flying overhead.
Another highlight was hearing a vocalizing Wild Turkey near the maintenance
building. I heard first and then saw and counted 92 Rusty Blackbirds in the
Woodcock Meadow and the remainder were gathered around the platform at the
end of the Hike-Bike Trail. The big surprise for me was the lack of Carolina
Wrens. I heard one!
Huntley Meadows Park--Hike and Bike Trail, Fairfax, US-VA Apr 3, 2015 6:21
AM - 9:46 AM
Protocol: Rusty Blackbird Spring Migration Blitz
2.5 mile(s)
Comments: I observed the Rusty Blackbirds in the Woodcock Meadow (92 of
them there) and the remainder surrounding the platform at the end of the
Hike-Bike Trail. The Turkey was vocalizing near the maintenance building
toward the residential side. Weather was cloudy with a steady rain after
8:00 AM and temperatures ranged from low to high 60s.
36 species
Canada Goose 10
Wood Duck 2
Gadwall 2
American Black Duck 1
Mallard 5
Blue-winged Teal 2
Northern Shoveler 5
Hooded Merganser 2 All waterfowl except for a few flyover Canada Geese
were in central wetland
Wild Turkey 1 Vocalizing near maintenance building
Mourning Dove 4
Red-bellied Woodpecker 15
Downy Woodpecker 5
Hairy Woodpecker 2
Northern Flicker (Yellow-shafted) 9
Pileated Woodpecker 2
Blue Jay 6
American Crow 1
Fish Crow 2
Tree Swallow 12 feathers in nest box 58 and Tree Swallow pair flying
around box
Carolina Chickadee 40
Tufted Titmouse 12
White-breasted Nuthatch 2
Carolina Wren 1 Odd that I heard only 1 bird!
Eastern Bluebird 3 none near boxes
American Robin 32
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle) 1
Eastern Towhee 8
Song Sparrow 5
Swamp Sparrow 1
White-throated Sparrow 10
Dark-eyed Junco (Slate-colored) 7
Northern Cardinal 30
Red-winged Blackbird 87
Rusty Blackbird 142 Alternate plumaged male all dark; female with gray
hue; light iris, but not the long tail of a grackle: Rusty Blackbirds appear
slightly larger than a Red-winged Blackbird and lack the red lesser wing
coverts of the Red-winged male. The birds were vocalizing as well.
Brown-headed Cowbird 4
American Goldfinch 8
View this checklist online at
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S22659239
This report was generated automatically by eBird v3 (http://ebird.org)
Larry Cartwright
prowarbler@xxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:prowarbler@xxxxxxxxxxx>
