During a lot of birding this weekend in Fairfax and Loudoun counties, I found
just one "likely migrating" bird, a "Trail's Flycatcher" on the golf course in
Reston. Could not get close to listen to it, but good looks - I'm sure it was
a Willow or Alder. No more Yellow-Rumps, and no other migrants, from 6
different locations covering about 5-6 hours.
Today, Lynn and I were able upgrade several species in Arcola SE, a priority
block for the Virginia Breeding Bird Atlas. For example, we had singing
Yellowthroats and Chats in the same location, in appropriate habitat, for the
second time 9 days apart, which upgrades them to "Probable". And a Starling
carrying nesting material, which confirms that species for this block.
It's still a bit early to rule out migrating birds, singing en route to their
territory. But the Chats and Yellowthroats were there last summer, so this
seems like a safe upgrade.
Finally, a note about periodical Cicadas. We have zero at our home south of
Reston, and zero in Loudoun County this morning. But yesterday I saw several
dozen during a 45-minute walk near Lake Anne in Reston. They are very
localized, quite concentrated there. One parking lot had accumulated piles of
their empty exoskeletons.
According to the web site "Cicadamania", these are most likely "stragglers"
from Brood X ("brood number 10"). Many of us in NoVa well remember this
brood's huge emergence in 2004. Most of their offspring will emerge again 17
years later, in 2021. "Stragglers" it seems, emerge either earlier or later
than the main brood, and the most common form of straggling is to emerge 4
years early - that would be, now.
http://www.cicadamania.com/cicadas/look-listen-for-brood-x-stragglers/
Hey, it's still about birds - we're just interested in finding out what our
cuckoo and robin friends are likely to be eating this year.
Steve Johnson
Fairfax, Virginia
