Loudoun Wildlife Conservancy

Many thanks to all of you who were out looking for Chimney Swifts this year! 

During the August Swift Night Out, I received a few reports of small groups of swifts …Gina Blake reported on Aug 12 that she has had a family nesting with her since about 2001 and Susan Ferster reported on Aug 16 that she had a group of about 12 at her house.  Here at my chimney we also had about 12-15 or so at that time. Knowing where the nesting chimneys are is important and as we look for the fall roosts so we’ll plot all of this information on a map to get a feel for where the swifts nest and then congregate for migration.

But back to the report….As the week went on we started to hear of some larger groups…. On Aug 19 Holly Flannery reported about 50 flying around the Lovettsville Community Center…..Holly’s report was the highest we had heard since we started looking a few years ago – so that was exciting!

Then….during the September Swift Night Out, we got the sighting we’ve been looking for….Phil Daley emailed….We found a roost!! I’ll paste it in here in his own words:

“Tonight, Tuesday, Sept16, I counted approx 250 Chimney Swifts entering two separate Chimneys on Foundrey Road in Lincoln. The major portion-about 150-175, entered the large Chimney near the back of ‘Breakthrough’-(in the old combined Elem/high school-Catherine Marshall Center) the smaller group-(50-75) entered one of the chimney’s across the street. Started to gather around 7:15 PM-most all in by 7:35.”

Phil and his wife Ellie went back to Foundry Rd the next night and the swifts were funneling into a couple of chimneys so it was hard to keep count. 

Next year we’ll keep a watchful eye on this location and the one that Holly found to see if we can catch a sighting of this amazing funnel that the birds make as they drop into the roosts.

I have yet to get any decent photos of chimney swifts but if you’d like to see some nice shots, here’s a great link: http://www.concentric.net/~dwa/page51.html

And to learn more about the birds, visit here: http://www.chimneyswifts.org/

Meg Findley, David Ward and Otto Gutenson have collaborated to put on a series of five stream monitoring videos demonstrating the protocol that we use.

Each video is fairly short (about 2-3 minutes long).

As these were our first attempt at making videos (we won’t give up the day jobs just yet…) the audio quality isn’t as great as it could be. We were competing with the natural sounds of the stream and the cicadas. But, if you turn up your volume you should be able to hear Meg alright.

In the future we’ll make other videos that will support the bluebird monitoring and amphibian monitoring programs as well. 

Hope you enjoy these and find the information useful!

In this video, Meg Findley provides an overview of our stream monitoring protocol. 

The summer cicadas were really loud when we recorded these videos but if you turn up the volume you should be able to hear Meg alright.

For more information about our stream monitoring program and to sign up as a monitor, visit our website at: http://www.loudounwildlife.org/Stream_Monitoring.htm

In this video, Meg provides an overview of the equipment used in stream monitoring.

Remember to turn up the volume to hear Meg over the sounds of the cicadas.

For more information about our stream monitoring program and to sign up as a monitor, visit our website at: http://www.loudounwildlife.org/Stream_Monitoring.htm

In this video, Otto Gutenson and David Ward demonstrate how the stream sampling is done while Meg describes what they are doing and why.

The audio in these videos could use improvement (summer cicadas were really loud when we recorded them). But if you turn up the volume you should be able to hear Meg alright.

For more information about our stream monitoring program and to sign up as a monitor, visit our website at: http://www.loudounwildlife.org/Stream_Monitoring.htm

In this video, Meg, Otto and David take a look at the creatures that were collected during the sampling and sort them into families.

Turn up the volume to hear Meg over the summer cicadas…

For more information about our stream monitoring program and to sign up as a monitor, visit our website at: http://www.loudounwildlife.org/Stream_Monitoring.htm

In this video, Meg talks about the data that we collect and what we do with it.

Remember to turn up the volume to be able to hear the audio in this better.

For more information about our stream monitoring program and to sign up as a monitor, visit our website at: http://www.loudounwildlife.org/Stream_Monitoring.htm

When you see Monarch Butterflies this time of year there’s a sense of seriousness to their behavior and flight. No longer do they dawdle at this flower or that, tasting this petal or that leaf. No longer do they flitter about following scents. No, now their flight is strong and their purpose clear - refuel, add fat reserves and head to Mexico…ensure the future of their species.

I love watching Monarchs at all times of year but fall is an incredible time to watch them.  We put a small iron compass rose in the middle of our lawn because I was so intrigued in watching their accuracy.  I’ll watch a Monarch after a drink of nectar float over our garden and head precisely due South. It’s amazing to see. You can see this while driving as well. Headed home after work on the toll road, I head west as the Monarchs fly perpendicular to the roadway. Whenever I see them on this amazing flight I whisper a wish to them for safe journeys…all the way to Mexico…and then send your babies back!

As you see Monarchs fly through Loudoun this fall, help scientists and conservationists track their progress and see what the wave of migration flight is looking like as it moves across our country and into Mexico! 

Click here to report your sightings: http://www.learner.org/cgi-bin/jnorth/jn-sightings

(If you’re new to reporting sightings, you’ll need to register with Journey North first - it helps them control spammers etc.)  Register here:
http://www.learner.org/cgi-bin/jnorth/jn-register

Click here to view the migration maps (and then explore the site further to see where people have reported the incredible overnight roosts where thousands of Monarchs congregate along their journey: http://www.learner.org/jnorth/maps/monarch_f08_all.html

If you see a Monarch butterfly, just log on to the website above and enter your sighting - it will then show up as a mark on the migration map as we watch the butterflies travel on this amazing journey! It also provides important data for those monitoring Monarchs both here in the US and in Mexico as populations are tracked.

For teachers - there are great activities on the Journey South Website above - great opportunities and materials to share with students.

Charity Corkey from the Washington Post joined up with one of our count teams last Sunday to see what exactly we do during this great butterfly count.  Her report of the event, with quotes from our participants, can be found here:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/05/AR2008080503808.html

Charity tells us it will come out in the print version, in the Loudoun Extra section, later this week and they may do a follow-up article as well. We really appreciate the spotlight being shined on this event and the value of citizen science!

While we had to postpone our annual butterfly count by a day due to the weather, it was definitely for the better!  48 people came out to help count butterflies on Sunday, August 3rd from 9:00 in the morning to about 4:30 in the afternoon.

We identified 2,903 individual butterflies and 55 species!  This is the highest number of different species that we’ve identified in our 12 years of counting and some of the species were real rarities like the Clouded skipper, which was a first for our count, the Giant Swallowtail, which we only see every few years, the American Snout (shown above) and the high number of Juniper Hairstreaks.  Two species that were noticeably down in numbers include the Eastern Tiger Swallowtail and the Red-spotted Purple.  We’ve posted a Full Report for the day as well as a Summary of the Data for all 12 years - click on over to find out more about what we saw. 

Many thanks to everyone who came out to spot and count butterflies and to our leaders (Jon Little, Cliff Fairweather, Mona Miller, Bob Blakney, Larry Meade, Dirck Harris, Phil Daley, and Nicole Hamilton) who made this possible!