Hi all:
?
The?Louisiana Waterthrush was hanging out at it's usual haunt at the pond at
Great Falls early on.
Somehow this was not communicated by me.? Mea culpa.
?
Sidenote:? There was a Black-crowned night heron here at Falls Church off of
Jaguar Trail (Anchorway Court)
?
It had the nerve to fly in right next to 5 goslings with parents.? They did not
seem to be too disturbed.
Maybe it was assessing the chicks for size and therefore edibility.?(I think
the goslings may have grown too big)
?
The night heron then edged down to the water for more manageable fare.?
Although I wish I knew if there were fish here in this
artificial lake.
?
?
Good birding all.
?
Naturalist-at-large,
?
Stuart Merrell:
?
?
P.S.? For you amateur botanists out there.? If you look carefully near the
eagle nest spotting area, you may find about 8
???????? Jack-in-the-pulpit - with one particularly big specimen.
?
?
?
-----Original Message-----
From: Marshall Rawson via va-bird <va-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: va-bird <va-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Sun, May 3, 2015 9:06 pm
Subject: [Va-bird] Great Falls Walk
It was a busy morning the park with REI holding a 5K race. Our large group
of
15 tallied 55 species. As soon as you turned onto the road into the park, a
wood thrush was singing in the woods with a back up chorus of red-eyed vireos
to
start off the morning. Even without last week's Louisiana waterthrushes, it
was a nice six warbler day. A smaller group of diehards continued up to the
dam. They were nicely rewarded with an indigo, scarlet tanager and both
orioles. They witnessed the drama of the day when one of the adult nesting
eagles chased off an osprey that flew too close to the nest. The eagle-osprey
interaction was quite interesting as each sought a speed advantage by circling
to a higher altitude. They were quite high by the time the eagle dove on and
dispatched the osprey before returning to the nest.
All are welcome to join this regular Sunday walk that meets at 8am in the
visitor's center parking lot. ---Marshall Rawson, McLean VA
Canada Goose 12
Mallard 5
Double-crested Cormorant 6
Great Blue
Heron 12
Black Vulture 6
Turkey Vulture 8
Osprey 1
Bald Eagle 2
Red-tailed Hawk 1
Spotted Sandpiper 4
Mourning Dove 1
Chimney Swift 6
Belted Kingfisher 1
Red-bellied Woodpecker 4
Downy Woodpecker 2
Hairy Woodpecker 1
Pileated Woodpecker 1
Great Crested Flycatcher 8
Eastern Kingbird 3
Warbling Vireo 5
Red-eyed Vireo 6
Blue Jay 24
American Crow 8
Fish Crow 3
Northern Rough-winged Swallow 1
Tree Swallow 6
Carolina Chickadee 6
Tufted Titmouse 8
White-breasted Nuthatch 2
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 2
Golden-crowned Kinglet 1
Eastern Bluebird 2
Wood Thrush 1
American Robin 1
Cedar Waxwing 4
Worm-eating Warbler 1
Black-and-white Warbler 1
Prothonotary Warbler 1
Northern Parula 6
Yellow Warbler 2
Yellow-rumped Warbler 1
Black-throated Green Warbler 1
Eastern Towhee 1
Chipping Sparrow 4
Song Sparrow 1
Scarlet Tanager 1
Northern Cardinal 6
Indigo Bunting 1
Red-winged Blackbird 4
Common Grackle 8
Brown-headed Cowbird 6
Orchard Oriole 4
Baltimore Oriole 1
House Finch 1
American Goldfinch 24
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