Fri 18 Jul 2008
Received this great email on Bobolinks from Joe Coleman this morning:
This morning I observed 4 BOBOLINKS, 3 adult males and 1 adult female, on one of my neighbor’s farms along Ebenezer Church Rd in western Loudoun Co near Bluemont. They were flying in & out of an uncut field near Legacy Farm’s “van entrance” as well perching on the utility wires that hang over that field. While one of the males stayed perched the whole time I was there, the other three birds went in & out of the tall grass several times.
This is the first female I’ve seen in my neighborhood since another neighbor’s field was hayed on July 8. The day after the hay was baled I observed both males & females perched on the bales.
Since BOBOLINKS seem to be pretty late nesters in our area (most egg dates in the records appear to be in June) there will hopefully be some actual fledglings appearing in the next week or so as several fields are still uncut in my neighborhood. Unfortunately most of those fields are far from the road and one needs a scope to check them out.
Thanks, Joe Coleman, near Bluemont, Loudoun Co
This evening, Sat., July 19, about 8 pm, I observed my first juvenile BOBOLINK of the year. It was in the high grass on Legacy Farm (on Ebenezer Church Rd near Bluemont) and was begging for food & trying to fly. An adult male BOBOLINK kept chipping at it & the juvenile kept trying to fly towards the male in the stumble-bumble flight of a bird learning to fly, landing on a large stalk of grass, not always the one it tried to land on, and finally getting its balance. While there was one other male perched on the overhead wires, I didn’t observe any other juveniles or females.
Joe Coleman near Bluemont