Sun 13 Jul 2008
Great Bird Walk at Banshee Reeks
Posted by Nicole under Field Trips, Great Places
We had a wonderful walk at Banshee on Saturday. Fifteen people came out for the walk and we were delighted by the sights and sounds of 51 species in our couple of hours of walking along the trails. A Summer Tanager that sang and gave us great views was definitely a highlight. Our walk leader, Mary Ann Good, who is an amazing birder, noted that that was the first Summer Tanager that she’s seen at Banshee in 12 years.
There was also a possible Vesper Sparrow which is exciting.
Here’s a listing of the bird species seen:
Great Blue Heron, Green Heron, Black Vulture, Turkey Vulture, Cooper’s Hawk, Red-Shouldered Hawk, Killdeer, Mourning Dover, Yellow-billed Cuckoo, Red-bellied Woodpecker, Downy Woodpecker, Northern Flicker, Pileated, Eastern Wood-PeWee, Acadian Flycatcher, Eastern Phoebe, Great Crested Flycatcher, Eastern Kingbird, Red-eyed Vireo, Blue Jay, Crow, Tree Swallow, Barn Swallow, Carolina Chickadee, Tufted Titmouse, White-breasted Nuthatch, Carolina Wren, House Wren, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, Bluebird, Wood Thrush, American Robin, Gray Catbird, Northern Mockingbird, Brown Thrasher, Starling, Ovenbird, Common Yellowthroat, Yellow-breasted Chat, Summer Tanager, Eastern Towhee, Field Sparrow, Vesper Sparrow (probable), Song Sparrow, Northern Cardinal, Indigo Bunting, Red-winged Blackbird, Brown-headed Cowbird, Baltimore Oriole, American Goldfinch, House Finch.
Join us next month for another great adventure in birding at Banshee - all experience levels are welcome, and you never know what wildlife will show up so it’s always fun.
August 2nd, 2008 at 8:22 am
Hello, Nicole!
I thought that some of the readers might be interested in my sighting, on May 17th, of a Mississippi Kite (Ictinia mississippiensis)here at our home north of Philomont. Apparently there have been other, if infrequent, sightings of this bird in northern Virginia. It was the first time I’d seen a Mississippi Kite, so I reported the sighting to the Virginia Avian Record Committee. Good to see the blog up!