Loudoun Wildlife Conservancy

This past Saturday, we held two different bird walks at the Blue Ridge Center for Environmental Stewardship (BRCES) in northwestern Loudoun Co, near Harper’s Ferry. One, the regular monthly walk took the Farmstead Loop and the other was the field trip for an Identifying Birds class and stayed in the vicinity of the Visitor Center.
 
With the temperature only 26 degrees when we began things started slowly and there wasn’t anywhere near as much bird song as there had been previously.  Nonetheless, both groups enjoyed numerous TREES SWALLOWS, two of whom were already claiming one of the Eastern Bluebird boxes, a very vocal EASTERN TOWHEE, and lots of singing FIELD SPARROWS (there seemed to be on a perch almost every 100′ in the different fields). We also enjoyed two Red-shouldered Hawks doing a courtship display and think we found a COOPER’S HAWK nest along with two Coops hunting close-by.  The group on the Farmstead Loop also found a BROWN CREEPER, two CHIPPING SPARROWS, and an orange variant HOUSE FINCH.
 
Information on the Blue Ridge Center for Environmental Stewardship can be found at http://www.blueridgecenter.org.   Information on the Loudoun Wildlife Conservancy and its many free public activities can be found at www.loudounwildlife.org.
 
Joe Coleman, near Bluemont, Loudoun Co
 
Location:     Blue Ridge Center for Environmental Stewardship – MFF01
Observation date:     3/27/10
Notes:     We broke into two dif. groups this morning.
Number of species:     41

Canada Goose, Great Blue Heron 4, Black Vulture 1, Turkey Vulture 6, Osprey 1, Bald Eagle 2, Sharp-shinned Hawk 1, Cooper’s Hawk 2, Red-shouldered Hawk 2, Mourning Dove 2, Red-bellied Woodpecker 5, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker 1, Downy Woodpecker 9, Northern Flicker (Yellow-shafted) 1, Pileated Woodpecker 2, Eastern Phoebe 2, Blue Jay, American Crow, Fish Crow, Tree Swallow 12, Carolina Chickadee, Tufted Titmouse, White-breasted Nuthatch, Brown Creeper 1, Carolina Wren, Eastern Bluebird, American Robin, Northern Mockingbird, European Starling, Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle) 1, Eastern Towhee 1, Chipping Sparrow 2, Song Sparrow, White-throated Sparrow, Dark-eyed Junco (Slate-colored), Northern Cardinal, Red-winged Blackbird, Brown-headed Cowbird, House Finch, American Goldfinch, House Sparrow

Ruby-throated hummingbirds are the hummingbirds we see here in Loudoun county from spring through fall. But where are they through the winter? Well these little guys make an amazing journey all the way down our coast and then across the Gulf of Mexico, flying over 600 miles in a single flight, to reach Costa Rica and other Central American countries.

With winter behind us and Springtime gearing up here, our tiny flying friends are now making their return trip and we should start to see the first arrivals any day! 

Reports of sightings of Ruby-throated hummingbirds in various Gulf Coast states started back on March 10th, indicating that many had already made that big flight back across the Gulf of Mexico. 

By March 17th, reports showed that our hummingbirds had reached South Carolina, along with accounts of warblers flying northward along the same migration flyways.

Looking at the Journey North website today, there have been a couple of sightings in Virginia and a little north of us. So — it’s time to start dusting off those hummingbird feeders and filling them up!  Remember, the solution is 1 cup water to 1/4 cup white granulated sugar. You can use really hot tap water to dissolve the sugar rather than boiling water and all that – it’s quick and easy. Boiling the water, though will help slow the spoiling of the nectar.

The males will arrive first and establish territories but will be closely followed by the females. We typically see hummingbird activity increase around April 15th as more and more of these little bundles of energy push northward into our area and points north. During the slow time, remember to clean and refill your feeder once a week so the sugar water doesn’t sour and mold.

In coming days, I’ll post more information about the Ruby-throated hummingbird but I thought it’d be fun to start this year off with a great activity – for kids and adults alike – and that’s to put together a Hummingbird Journal. You can use this journal to track their migration through watching data come in from fellow citizen scientists south of us on the Journey Northwebsite, record weather conditions and see how that effects their pace. and watch for signs of the seasons where this great interrelated web of life comes together (flowers with nectar, sap running, small insects emerging and so on).

New updates on the great migration are posted every Wednesday by Journey North and as soon as you start seeing them here in Loudoun, you can enter your hummingbird sightings as well.