This morning Dave Engelen, John Pratt, and I made the trek from Alexandria to
Rockbridge County in search of the reported Swallow-tailed Kites. We arrived
around 10:15 and found another birder who said she had seen one of the birds.
After driving the area for a short time we settled back very near Oxford
Presbyterian Church, and within a short while found a single bird soaring
directly toward us. Shortly after, 3 more birds joined up for a total of 4.
Several other birders came and all got good looks, although none were
exceptionally close. The birds were up for a good while and were still soaring
when we left just after noon. For those of you wishing to find the birds, the
address of the church is 143 Oxford Lane, Lexington, VA 24450. It is about 5
miles or so outside of Lexington proper off Rt. 251 (Collierstown Rd.).
I got a few decent reference photos, but all were at some distance and enlarged
a bit, so detail is lacking. A few include mid-air feeding on what appears to
be a cicada or some other large insect. Photos are at
http://www.flickriver.com/photos/daveboltz/ ;.
For those of you who enjoy a big buck, keep going after the first 6 Kite
pictures and you will see a beauty of a 13 pointer I took up on Skyline Drive
near Stony Man Mountain a few weeks ago.
Dave Boltz
Alexandria/Fairfax Co.
