Loudoun Wildlife Conservancy

Approx. 15 birders joined Laura Weidner and Mary Ann Good for the monthly (2nd Sat.) bird walk at Banshee Reeks Nature Preserve sponsored by the Loudoun Wildlife Conservancy.  Prior to the 8:00 walk, Mary Ann and Gerry Hawkins spent 45 minutes surveying the nearby Dulles Wetlands for LWC’s Loudoun Co. Bird Atlas. 

We were pleased and surprised to find a breeding plumaged LITTLE BLUE HERON on the spit of the island in the middle of the water, next to a Green Heron, a rare find in Loudoun Co., especially prior to breeding dispersal.  A pair of Willow Flycatchers sang and interacted, as did at least 3 male Yellow Warblers, and a Northern Parula was heard nearby.

The second-most-exciting find of the morning was an adult Red-headed Woodpecker perched at the top of a tall tree in the field by the visitor center of Banshee Reeks.  It raised hopes that they will re-inhabit their abandoned colony at the Beaver Pond. 

Other highlights well seen by all were an Osprey, adult Bald Eagle, not 2 but 3 Am. Kestrels in the field they frequent, more Willow Flycatchers, Prairie Warbler (this one heard only), and two pairs of Blue Grosbeaks!  We were also delighted to spot a young Raccoon looking back at us from his resting spot in a tree. 

At the banding station, the young birder in our group who had expressed his hope of getting a look at a Wood Thrush got one better – he got to hold and release one after it had been banded!

Following is the list of 65 species for the morning (Dulles Wetlands sightings, where applicable, are second):

Great Blue Heron, Little Blue Heron – 0/1, Green Heron – 1/1, Black Vulture, Turkey Vulture, Canada Goose, Wood Duck – 0/2, Osprey, Bald Eagle, Red-shouldered Hawk, Red-tailed Hawk, Am. Kestrel – 3, Rock Pigeon, Mourning Dove, Yellow-billed Cuckoo – 1, Chimney Swift, Red-headed Woodpecker – 1, Red-bellied Woodpecker, Downy Woodpecker, Northern Flicker, Pileated Woodpecker, E. Wood-Pewee, Acadian Flycatcher, Willow Flycatcher – 2/2, E. Phoebe, Great Crested Flycatcher, E. Kingbird, Red-eyed Vireo, Blue Jay, Am. Crow, Fish Crow, Raven – 1, Tree Swallow, No. Rough-Winged Swallow – 0/1, Barn Swallow, Car. Chickadee, Tufted Titmouse, White-Breasted Nuthatch, Carolina Wren, House Wren, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, E. Bluebird, Wood Thrush, Gray Catbird, No. Mockingbird, Brown Thrasher, Eur. Starling, Cedar Waxwing, Yellow Warbler – 1/3, Prairie Warbler – 1, Ovenbird – 3, Common Yellowthroat, Scarlet Tanager – 4, Towhee, Chipping Sparrow, Field Sparrow, Song Sparrow, No. Cardinal, Blue Grosbeak – 3, Indigo Bunting, Red-winged Blackbird, Brown-headed Cowbird. Orchard Oriole, Baltimore Oriole, American Goldfinch

There’s nothing worse that having that amazing bird fly “right there” into view and you realize that you just can’t see it that clearly because of the dust, raindrops and oils that have built up on your eye pieces or lenses. Keeping your binoculars clean is pretty straightforward but there are a few tips to doing to correctly.

First, you’ll want to remove any debris or dust. The best way to do this is with a blower or fine brush (like those used for camera lenses).

Next, clean the lenses using a soft, lint-free cloth or lens pen. Lens cloths are specially designed with micro fibers which are gentle on lens surfaces. They also don’t leave lint and won’t scratch the glass like a t-shirt or kleenex would. If there are spots or oils on the glass, you can also use special lens cleaning solution like that used for high end camera lenses (but check your binocular manual for guidance on this).

Some definite don’ts for maintaining your binoculars ….never use your breath to moisten the dust before cleaning. It could leave spots or damage the special coating on your lens surfaces. Never use your shirt to clean your optics. No matter how clean and soft your shirt may seem, it will have small particles of dirt on it as well as rough fibers which can leave small scratches that over time will make your lenses appear foggy.

When you’re out in the field and it starts to drizzle, try to keep your binoculars covered. This will help keep those spots off the lenses.

Now then, I better go clean those dirty binos that I showed here in the picture…..

Five people showed up for our Wednesday morning bird walks at the Dulles Greenway Wetlands Mitigation Project (7 am) and the Banshee Reeks Nature Preserve (9 am).
 
There were several highlights among the 60+ species we observed.  It was a real pleasure to hear Virginia Rails almost as soon, about 6:30 am, as we parked our cars at the gate to the Dulles Greenway Wetlands Mitigation Project.  While they were pretty vocal all we were able to see was movement in the cattails.  However, in the same location Mary Ann Good, who got there earlier than the rest of us, did see two Green Herons, one of which carried a branch into a black willow.  There were numerous Willow Flycatchers and Yellow Warblers vocalizing.  On the back side of the wetlands we also found an Orchard Oriole nest.
 
As soon as we entered Banshee’s driveway at about 9 am we started hearing Wood Thrushes and Ovenbirds as well as some raucous Ravens.  As we parked at the Visitor Center two Yellow-breasted Chats flew by chasing each other & making all kinds of noise. While watching them and trying to figure out if they were a pair of males fighting over a female or two fighting males we noticed a male and female Blue Grosbeak.  Shortly later we watched two American Kestrels, a male and a female aggressively run off a couple of crows that got too close to a sycamore they appeared to be using as a base.  We also twice observed an Orchard Oriole carrying food though we couldn’t find its nest in spite of watching it for several minutes
 
Information on Banshee Reeks which is now open every weekends from 8 am to 4 pm can be found at http://www.bansheereeks.org.   Information on the Loudoun Wildlife Conservancy can be found at www.loudounwildlife.org.  There is an 8 am bird walk at Banshee Reeks this Saturday morning.
 
The complete eBird listings follow:
Location:     Banshee Reeks Nature Preserve
Number of species:     44
Turkey Vulture, Red-tailed Hawk, American Kestrel, Yellow-billed Cuckoo, Red-bellied Woodpecker, Downy Woodpecker, Eastern Wood-Pewee, Willow Flycatcher, Eastern Phoebe, Great Crested Flycatcher, Red-eyed Vireo, Blue Jay, American Crow, Fish Crow, Common Raven, Tree Swallow, Barn Swallow, Carolina Chickadee, Tufted Titmouse, House Wren, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, Eastern Bluebird, Wood Thrush, American Robin, Gray Catbird, Northern Mockingbird, Brown Thrasher, European Starling, Northern Parula, Ovenbird, Common Yellowthroat, Yellow-breasted Chat, Scarlet Tanager, Eastern Towhee, Field Sparrow , Song Sparrow, Northern Cardinal, Blue Grosbeak, Indigo Bunting, Red-winged Blackbird, Common Grackle, Orchard Oriole, Baltimore Oriole, American Goldfinch
 
Location:     Dulles Greenway Wetlands Mitigation Project
Number of species:     49
Canada GooseWood Duck, Mallard, Great Blue Heron, Green Heron, Red-shouldered Hawk, Virginia Rail, Killdeer, Yellow-billed Cuckoo, Chimney Swift, Belted Kingfisher, Downy Woodpecker, Northern Flicker, Pileated Woodpecker, Eastern Wood-Pewee, Willow Flycatcher, Blue Jay, American Crow, Fish Crow, Tree Swallow, Northern Rough-winged Swallow, Carolina Chickadee, Tufted Titmouse, White-breasted Nuthatch, House Wren, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, Eastern Bluebird, American Robin, Gray Catbird, Northern Mockingbird, Brown Thrasher, European Starling, Cedar Waxwing, Northern Parula, Yellow Warbler, Prairie Warbler, Common Yellowthroat, Scarlet Tanager, Chipping Sparrow, Field Sparrow, Song Sparrow, Northern Cardinal, Blue Grosbeak, Indigo Bunting, Red-winged Blackbird, Common Grackle, Brown-headed Cowbird, Orchard Oriole, American Goldfinch

Does the bowl in the garden mock nature
when night after night green frogs gather to prove it a pool?
Who says you can’t make a pond out of a bowl?

- Han Yu

By all accounts, the tree planting along the Town Branch stream on Saturday was a great success!  Gem Bingol from Piedmont Environmental Council (PEC) kicked off the event with an overview of the project, talking about the stream and how the riparian buffer will help improve water quality and describing the task that we would undertake of planting 204 native trees and shrubs and 144 native perennial wildflower plants.

She then turned it over to Jeff Wolinski, the consulting ecologist and wetlands expert, who helped plan and select the plant species that we’d be planting. He selected a great diversity of plants for this project which will not only benefit a wide variety of wildlife but also provide a more natural look to the restoration.

The tree and shrub species include 2 species of dogwoods, elderberry, 2 species of serviceberry, ironwood, hazelnut, river birch, hackberry, black gum, red maple, red bud, 3 species of oaks, and arrowwood. Among the perennials, they include monarda (Wild Bergamot) , eupatorium (Joe Pye), New York ironweed, coreopsis, senna, culver root, blue indigo, mountain mint, gayfeather, switchgrass, indiangrass, and blue vervain.

After giving a quick overview of the plants, Jeff demonstrated how to plant the trees and talked about fertilizer as well as the interrelationship between a beneficial fungus that grows in the soil and the plant roots.

Thankfully, Jeff, along with LWC’s Craig Himelright and Rocky Fera and a few others others spent Friday preparing for the planting by auguring the holes for the trees, getting the trees in place at each spot, bringing out the mulch and doing other preparations. This pre-work made the planting very straightforward, as volunteers could focus on planting the trees and mulching around them rather than digging the holes.

The work went quickly with over 50 volunteers from Piedmont Environmental Council, Loudoun Wildlife Conservancy and an energetic boy scout troop 998 jumping right in. Volunteers came prepared with work gloves for getting hands on with the planting. Shovels were provided to help break up soils and put it back around the trees as they were settled into their holes. With the rain that we had the last few days, the ground was very wet and a number of holes had filled with water over night making this a rather muddy but good planting. As the designated photographer for the event, I think I was the only one who left the event without muddy pants….not that I don’t enjoy playing in the dirt too

Eight people worked until 4pm doing the final wrap-up of putting deer protectors around the trees and watering the plants.

And, I’d be remiss in not calling out Neely Law from the Center for Watershed Protection for her great work. Neely was instrumental as she got the required permissions along with the Leesburg Town Council’s support for the project, including  their agreement that the planting area would be a no-mow area so it could be a viable riparian buffer.
 
Thanks to all who supported this event! It was a great team effort and a wonderful showing of our care for the community! We met new people, shared stories and put in place a beautiful riparian habitat that will benefit our wildlife and provide enjoyment to all who live in and visit Leesburg.

More photos will be  posted to our Loudoun Wildlife facebook page.

You know the numbers….the 8×42, 10×32, that are printed on the binoculars….so what do they mean? Well, here we are to demystify the numbers. 

The first number (e.g. the 8 in 8×42) refers to magnification. So if it says 8×42 then it means that the object (or bird or butterfly) will seem 8 times closer to you when you look through the binoculars.

The second number is the diameter of the objective lens (the far end of the barrell, not the end you look through) measured in millimeters.  So if you have a metric ruler, you can check this out. Just turn your binoculars around and measure the end that is furthest from where you look through – the number you get will be the same as the second number that your binos are rated as.

So what does all this mean?  Well with magnification there is a sweet spot.  Too little magifiction and you may as well forget using binoculars, too much magnification and the shake of your hands will be too great to be able to enjoy yourself. Typically between 7x-10x is great for going out into the field for general nature watching and birding.

So that takes care of the first number.  The second number (e.g. the 42 in 8×42) is important because the larger the diameter of the objective lens, the more light will be let in – letting you see more in low light conditions, such as dawn and dusk, as well as giving you more light in general to get more clarity and sharpness on your subject.  The down side to the larger diameter is that it also means a larger (and often heavier) binocular.  You’ll want to try out different makes and models so you can “weigh” the trade-offs. Of course with some of the newer lens coatings you can get very bright images with a smaller diameter objective lens but this may also impact the price. 

Lots of tradeoffs here but at least you have one more piece of the puzzle.

There’s a wonderful little stream called Town Branch that runs though Leesburg and many of us may not even notice that it’s there.

It runs along Catoctin Circle near the Village Lanes Bowling Center and is the site of a really great habitat restoration project that is happening this Saturday.

Piedmont Environmental Council (PEC) is leading this project and we are supporting it. In the future, there will be a walking trail that runs through here and we are also talking about doing some additional habitat restoration for the amphibian population that use the vernal pools there too.

This is a great event for the whole family. The holes will be dug in advance so the main activity will be to plant the trees and shrubs that have been put out. Here is the flier for the event so you can read more about it and the important impacts that this habitat restoration will have our our local water.

I’m sure the wildlife will be pleased by the restoration.  When I went out to take some “before” photos, a Kingfisher, which is likely nesting in the area, came by to protest my presence. It landed just a few feet from me on the dumpster and made its rattling call. It was likely hunting in the stream for small fish.

The tree buffer that is planted here will help restore the water quality of this stream, giving great food sources for birds like this kingfisher. Kingfishers nest in burrows along stream banks – perhaps one day, the kingfishers will even nest in the banks of this stream!

Each time dawn appears,
the mystery is there in its eternity.

- Arthur Rimbaud

Majestic fliers with a wingspan of six feet! We see Great Blue Herons in a variety of places around Loudoun County. In March or April they started nesting and now they are busy raising their young. For those living in the Ashburn area, there’s a wonderful heron rookery where over 50 Great Blue Heron nests can be seen. It’s amazing.

These are pretty interesting birds…read through our article on Great Blue Herons and then try our Great Blue Herons crossword puzzle.

More puzzles on Loudoun wildlife and our environment can be found on our Educational Resources page.