Loudoun Wildlife Conservancy

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.

 This is a great time to head over to Algonkian Park. There’s a great walking trail that runs along the river (park near the boat ramp) but there’s also this amazing field of flowers in bloom right now as well. 

You’ll see a variety of flowers (bergamot, rudbeckia, milkweed, cardinal flower, thistle, mullein) as well as some grasses mixed in.  When I was there this morning, the goldfinches, song sparrows and tree swallows were darting all through it, perching on stems and hunting insects.  Dragonflies, butterflies and a variety of bees were enjoying all the vibrance.

It’s definitely worth a look. It’s a great example of what we can do in our yards to covert lawns into wildlife habitat.

If you haven’t been to Algonkian before, you can check out our google map for location, directions and more information about Algonkian Park.  Enjoy!