A Warbler-palooza at Leesylvania today. Did my usual route at Leesylvania this
morning, picnic area-gun battery-ridge line- ruins meadow-vistor
center-overflow parking-Bushey Pt. The gun battery wasn't very birdy, but did
have 6 Blackpoll W. and a Palm W. there. I arrived at the meadow about 7:45,
and the action was already underway. Ran into Russ Taylor and Phil Kenny here.
Many warblers in the tick seed and paw-paw as well as up in the ash trees.
Ended here at about 9 AM. Not much activity anywhere else; only a couple of
warblers at Bushey Pt. Highlight here were 2 Greater Yellowlegs flying along
the shore towards the trestle, a first for me at Leesylvania. Around 10:45
after running into Russ and Phil again, I decided to go back to the gun battery
(picked up the lone Yellow-rump here) and a few other warblers, and then the
meadow between 11:15 and 12:10. Most of the warblers were down in the tick
seed. I spent most of the time back in the trees at the SW corner of the
meadow. A steady stream of warblers (mostly N. Parula and Magnolia, reported
numbers are conservative) were foraging through the tick seed then moving off
into the trees towards the visitor center. Almost like the corner of the meadow
was acting like a funnel. At one point I had three Tennessee W. in view at the
same time, and another time, two Nashville W. in view. I have no idea if the
warblers I saw earlier in the morning and late morning were the same or not, so
I present the ranges below along with the two eBird checklists. So, I was able
to ID at least 56 individual warblers and perhaps as many as 81. There were a
substantial number I failed to ID.
Scott D. Priebe
Springfield, VA
http://ebird.org/ebird/va/view/checklist/S39482236
http://ebird.org/ebird/va/view/checklist/S39482503
Species: 50
Mallard 2
Mourning Dove 3
Greater Yellowlegs 2
Laughing Gull 7
Ring-billed Gull 6
Forster's Tern 2
Double-crested Cormorant 6
Great Blue Heron 3
Great Egret 1 (Neabsco Creek inlet)
Black Vulture 2
Turkey Vulture 8
Bald Eagle 6-8 (2 adult pairs seen flying high
overhead, at differen times, may or may not have been the same pair)
Sharp-shinned Hawk 1
Cooper's Hawk 1
Red-shouldered Hawk 1
Belted Kingfisher 1
Red-headed Woodpecker 1
Red-bellied Woodpecker 5
Downy Woodpecker 2
Northern Flicker 8
Eastern Phoebe 4
Red-eyed Vireo 2
Blue Jay 11
American Crow 5
Fish Crow 2
Northern Rough-winged Swallow 3
Carolina Chickadee 13
Tufted Titmouse 10
White-breasted Nuthatch 3
Carolina Wren 10
Ruby-crowned Kinglet 2
Eastern Bluebird 2
American Robin 5
Gray Catbird 3
European Starling 34
Black-and-white Warbler 2-3
Tennessee Warbler 4-5
Nashville Warbler 3-4
Common Yellowthroat 4-7
American Redstart 3-4
Cape May Warbler 5-9
Northern Parula 14-21
Magnolia Warbler 6-11
Chestnut-sided Warbler 2
Blackpoll Warbler 7
Black-throated Blue Warbler 4-6
Palm Warbler 1
Yellow-rumped Warbler 1
Scarlet Tanager 1
Northern Cardinal 9
