The Northern Virginia Bird Club visited Sky Meadows State Park this morning.
We hiked from the Visitor's Center to Turner Pond via the picnic area and back
via the Gap Run and Boston Mill Road trails. We came across several nice
groups off sparrows that tended to give only fleeting looks, but we did see
song, savannah, chipping, field, Lincoln's white-crowned, white-throated and
eastern towhee. As usual we saw all 7 expected woodpeckers but red-headed were
only heard, which was a first. The were not concentrated in the walnut grove
as usual. The most unusual find of the walk was a blue-gray gnatcatcher, found
by Elton Morel in the walnut grove. Other notables were blackpoll warbler,
purple finch, yellow-billed cuckoo, and indigo bunting. We tallied 51 species
in all. Here is the complete list.
Canada Goose 20
Rock Pigeon (Feral Pigeon) 15
Yellow-billed Cuckoo 1
Turkey Vulture 3
Northern Harrier 1
Sharp-shinned Hawk 1
Cooper's Hawk 1
Bald Eagle 2
Red-shouldered Hawk 1
Red-tailed Hawk 3
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker 3
Red-headed Woodpecker 2
Red-bellied Woodpecker 9
Downy Woodpecker 5
Hairy Woodpecker 3
Pileated Woodpecker 3
Northern Flicker 10
American Kestrel 2
Blue-headed Vireo 3
Blue Jay 20
American Crow 2
Common Raven 1
Tree Swallow 3
White-breasted Nuthatch 6
Carolina Wren 6
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 1
Golden-crowned Kinglet 4
Ruby-crowned Kinglet 6
Eastern Bluebird 13
Hermit Thrush 1
American Robin 6
Northern Mockingbird 6
European Starling 30
House Finch 2
Purple Finch 8
American Goldfinch 4
Chipping Sparrow 6
Field Sparrow 8
White-crowned Sparrow 4
White-throated Sparrow 30
Savannah Sparrow 4
Song Sparrow 20
Lincoln's Sparrow 1
Eastern Towhee 3
Eastern Meadowlark 5
Red-winged Blackbird 40
Blackpoll Warbler 3
Yellow-rumped Warbler 10
Northern Cardinal 4
Indigo Bunting 1
House Sparrow 2
Marc Ribaudo
