Loudoun Wildlife Conservancy

On January 28th, 14 of us found 30 species on the Loudoun Wildlife Conservancy’s regular bird walk at the Blue Ridge Center for Environmental Stewardship in northwestern Loudoun County near Harper’s Ferry. 

It was around freezing when we started and warmed up to the low 40′s by the time we finished.  We spent most of our time on the power cut with brief forays into the forest edge.

We got nice looks at two Hermit Thrushes, a Brown Creeper, Golden-crowned Kinglets, and a Red-bellied Woodpecker & Hairy Woodpecker fighting over a cavity. 

Other highlights included two Fox Sparrows, at least 6 Field Sparrows, no Juncos, a handful of hawks, and two flyover Ravens as we were tallying.  Surprising misses were the lack of Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers and Pileated Woodpeckers.  Nonetheless all in all a nice walk on a pleasant winter day

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 activities can be found at www.loudounwildlife.org.

Joe Coleman, near Bluemont, Loudoun Co

See below for complete list of bird species seen as reported to eBird:
Blue Ridge Center for Environmental Stewardship – MFF01, Loudoun, US-VA
Jan 28, 2012 8:00 AM – 10:45 AM
Protocol: Traveling
1.0 mile(s)
30 species
Canada Goose  30,Mallard  18,Hooded Merganser  3,Turkey Vulture  6,Red-shouldered Hawk  2,Red-tailed Hawk  3,American Kestrel  1,Red-bellied Woodpecker,Downy Woodpecker,Hairy Woodpecker  1,Northern Flicker  2,Blue Jay,American Crow,Common Raven  2,Carolina Chickadee,Tufted Titmouse,White-breasted Nuthatch,Brown Creeper  1,Carolina Wren,Golden-crowned Kinglet  3,Eastern Bluebird,Hermit Thrush  1,Northern Mockingbird  3,European Starling,Field Sparrow  6,Fox Sparrow  2,Song Sparrow,White-throated Sparrow,Northern Cardinal  12,American Goldfinch.

With the weather yesterday, we had some great views of the Short-eared Owls but our photos just didn’t capture the magic.

Liam McGranaghan was kind enough to send over a few of his photos of this impressive bird from past excursions around the back roads of Loudoun. 

Sharing them with you here for your owling enjoyment:

Yesterday, January 22, was our annual Birds of Prey field trip, and it did not disappoint! Laura McGranaghan wrote up a great account of our day to share with you here:

What a great day to Search for Birds of Prey. Despite the 100% cloud cover, temps in the low 30’s, snow and drizzle, we all had a great afternoon as we drove the back roads of Loudoun county in search of raptors.

Liam McGranaghan led the drive assisted by Laura McGranaghan, Joe Coleman, and Liz Dennison. The 12 participants were treated to a wonderful diversity of wintering Birds of Prey that Loudoun County offers during the winter months.

Our drive began at 1pm with light snow falling. As we headed south from Leesburg on Rt. 15, we couldn’t believe the number of Red-tailed and Red-shouldered Hawks we were seeing. Within the first 6 miles, we had already counted over 8 different hawks!

One of the first of many highlights we had was a pair of Barred Owls tucked into a cedar. They sat quietly until one of them decided we should be offered a better look. He flew to a nearby snag and posed for some photos, then flew off.

Next, we were able to view a pair of adult Bald Eagles working on their nest as they rearranged sticks for some “home renovations.” What a joy!

From there, we turned around and drove to an area north of Leesburg. We stopped at a field being hunted by a few Red-tailed hawks searching for their lunch.

At this point, Liam snuck off to do some “hunting” of his own. He returned shortly thereafter to show us just what the hawks are eating this time of year.

In hand, he had a live and healthy Meadow Vole, Microtus pennsylvanicus. He explained how many of these rodents are in the fields which surrounded us and how they are such a critical food source this time of year for raptors as well as other animals like foxes. He then returned the Meadow Vole (unharmed) to the location he found it.

Next, with hopes of finding a field of Northern Harriers and dare we hope…… Short-eared owls, we headed on! With only a few reports of Northern Harriers this year, and no reports of Short-eared Owls, we weren’t sure what the late afternoon would have in store for us.

Then, there it was…a “Gray Ghost”, the adult male Northern Harrier flying HIGH above us! With excitement building, we continued to travel north to an area rich with tall grasses. Then another Northern Harrier….. then another, wait, another! How exciting and what a way to end the day!

It couldn’t get better than this ~ so we thought. As we were getting ready to leave, that’s when it happened.

Up flew a Short-eared Owl! (You’ve heard this before), then another, wait, another!

All told we had at least 5 Short-eared Owls!

We had great views of them through our spotting scopes as they sat on fence posts in the field in front of us. (Our photos are no comparison to what we saw through the scopes)

Now, that’s the way to end the day.

Here’s the list of raptors seen over the course of our afternoon:

Bald Eagle (adults)  2
Red-tailed Hawk   15
Red-shouldered Hawk  19
Coopers Hawk  2
Northern Harrier  6
Barred Owls  2
Short eared Owls  5
Kestrels 6

More photos can be seen on our facebook page. Thanks to all of you who came out and we look forward to seeing you soon!

Eleven of us showed up for a very pleasant winter bird walk at the Banshee Reeks Nature Preserve on Saturday morning.  While cold, it was bright & sunny and, most importantly, weather-wise NOT windy. 

Unfortunately the birds didn’t show up as we had only 30 species though we did have great views at a couple of them including a Brown Creeper.
 
The regular monthly free bird walk (every 2nd Sat) at the Banshee Reeks Nature Preserve is sponsored by the Loudoun Wildlife Conservancy (www.loudounwildlife.org) and the Friends of Banshee Reeks (www.bansheereeks.org); information on both and their upcoming events can be found on their websites.

Good birding,
Joe Coleman, near Bluemont, Loudoun Co

Canada Goose, Mallard  40, Black Vulture  2, Red-tailed Hawk  1, Ring-billed Gull  6, Rock Pigeon  6, Mourning Dove  2, Red-bellied Woodpecker  1, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker  1, Downy Woodpecker  4, Hairy Woodpecker  1, Northern Flicker  1, Blue Jay, American Crow, Common Raven  1, Carolina Chickadee, Tufted Titmouse, White-breasted Nuthatch  1, Brown Creeper  1, Carolina Wren  1, Eastern Bluebird  12, Northern Mockingbird  5, Eastern Towhee  1, Field Sparrow  1, Song Sparrow  4, White-throated Sparrow  25, Dark-eyed Junco  12, Northern Cardinal  6, Red-winged Blackbird  20, American Goldfinch.

Have you signed up for the Christmas Bird Count yet?  If not, you should!  It’s so much fun – and all levels of experience are needed.

This is our 15th year leading the Loudoun County Christmas Bird Count and over the course of the 15 counts, we have counted over 380,000 individual birds!  We hope to encounter over 25,000 birds again for this year’s count (and maybe hit 100 species!) and with your great spotting and involvement, we can do that!

We use a count circle to organize our count and that circle is broken down into sectors that are assigned to expert birders who are the team leaders.  When you sign up, we’ll assign you to a team or you can let us know if there’s a specific team or area within the circle where you’d like to bird.

Come on out and join the fun – for part of the day or the whole day – it’s a great chance to meet new people, talk birds (and learn about birds), and contribute to a really important effort to gather data on bird populations nation-wide.

The data that we collect will be used for our local Loudoun County Bird Atlas and will be sent to National Audubon for inclusion in this nation-wide bird population census.

Nine of us showed up for the Loudoun Wildlife Conservancy’s regular bird walk (every 4th Sat except Dec) at the Blue Ridge Center for Environmental Stewardship in northwestern Loudoun County near Harper’s Ferry.  It was in the lower 30′s when we started and stayed surprisingly cool for awhile though it did finally warm up to almost 60.
 
One of our first birds occurred at the very beginning of the walk and alerted us to its presence with a thrush-like call that was similar to but not the chup of a Hermit Thrush but closer to the quip of a SWAINSON’S THRUSH. 

It was perched in a tree near the small farm pond which is close to the Education Center and stayed there long enough to for all of us to get great looks at it and for one person to take a photo which we haven’t rec’d yet.  All its diagnostics (distinct buffy eye ring, dull spotting on the chest & dull coloration on the back, & a total lack of tail-dipping the entire time we watched it) indicated a very late Swainson’s Thrush. 

To top it off, when it finally flew away we listened to dif. thrushes on BirdJam and when it flew back in, it responded to the call of a Swainson’s Thrush.  The late date for Swainson’s Thrush in the Maryland Yellow Book is Dec. 1; looking at Virginia’s Gold Book this may be a late record for VA.  Hope the photos turns out.  Interestingly enough we never found a Hermit Thrush in spite of being in pretty nice habitat for this species.
 
After watching the Swainson’s Thrush we crossed the berm next to the pond where there was lots of activity including our heard our first Brown Creeper of the walk(we saw three and heard at least that many in other locations),  one of several we heard and three. 

We also had several Golden-crowned Kinglets and at least two Ruby-crowned Kinglets.  Other highlights included two Fox Sparrows, at least 6 Field Sparrows (but no Am. Tree Sparrows), more Juncos than we wanted to count, and a handful of hawks.  Also surprising was the lack of any Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers.  All in all a nice walk on a pleasant late fall day.
 
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 activities can be found at www.loudounwildlife.org.

Joe Coleman, near Bluemont, Loudoun Co

See below for complete list of bird species seen:
Blue Ridge Center for Environmental Stewardship – MFF01, Loudoun, US-VA
Nov 26, 2011 7:45 AM – 10:45 AM
Protocol: Traveling
1.5 mile(s)
31 species

Turkey Vulture, Cooper’s Hawk, Red-shouldered Hawk, Red-tailed Hawk, Mourning Dove, Red-bellied Woodpecker, Downy Woodpecker, Hairy Woodpecker, Northern Flicker, Pileated Woodpecker, Blue Jay, American Crow, Carolina Chickadee, Tufted Titmouse, White-breasted Nuthatch, Brown Creeper, Carolina Wren, Golden-crowned Kinglet, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Eastern Bluebird, Swainson’s Thrush, American Robin, Northern Mockingbird, European Starling, Field Sparrow, Fox Sparrow, Song Sparrow, White-throated Sparrow, Dark-eyed Junco, Northern Cardinal, American Goldfinch.

On Nov 19, 11 of us went on a driving & walking bird trip led by Jim McWalters and Mary Ann Good and sponsored by the Loudoun Wildlife Conservancy in northeastern Loudoun County near Lucketts on Limestone School Rd & Hibler Rd. [For more photos visit our Facebook album]

It was a pleasant (no wind) 23 degrees when we met at Temple Hall Farm on Limestone School Rd and almost 50 degrees when we finished at noon at the alpaca farm at the other end of Limestone School Rd where we not only saw a Horned Lark but several sulphur butterflies. 

One of the best sightings of the day was of two coyotes along some back roads as well as the Horned Lark  on Limestone School Rd.

We also had great views of White-crowned Sparrows at a couple of locations and an American Tree Sparrow along Hibler Rd.

Grasshoppers were still out in numbers in the field but were not moving too fast so we got some nice photos and admired their colors and patterns.

We also had a great time checking out a really old oak tree on the property.  First, we stood and looked at it and talked about how grand it was and then, we decided we needed to know how large around it was.

So, our tree hugging participants jumped into action and made a human measuring tape around the tree.  We will need to get a real measuing tape (and those same participants back) to get the measurement but it’s probably a good 20+ feet around.

We also had a good variety of raptors. Many of us saw our first of season Northern Harrier as it harrassed a Turkey Vulture. And, a kestrel sat patiently on a telephone wire as we all got great views from the car.

A complete list of the species seen follows:

39 species
Canada Goose, Mallard, Great Blue Heron, Black Vulture, Turkey Vulture, Bald Eagle, Northern Harrier, Cooper’s Hawk, Red-shouldered Hawk, Red-tailed Hawk, American Kestrel, Mourning Dove, Great Horned Owl, Red-bellied Woodpecker, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, Downy Woodpecker, Northern Flicker, Pileated Woodpecker, Blue Jay, American Crow, Fish Crow, Horned Lark, Carolina Chickadee, Tufted Titmouse, White-breasted Nuthatch, Carolina Wren, Eastern Bluebird, American Robin, Northern Mockingbird, European Starling, Cedar Waxwing, Yellow-rumped Warbler, American Tree Sparrow, Song Sparrow, White-throated Sparrow, White-crowned Sparrow, Dark-eyed Junco, Northern Cardinal, American Goldfinch

Last Sunday, we got the word — Bruce Hill called Joe to let him know that he sighted a Loggerhead Shrike  as he was wrapping up a walk at the Banshee Reeks Nature Preserve. 

It flew into the top of a tree near the Visitor Center where it interacted with a Northern Mockingbird. 

Bruce last saw it flying away in the direction of the Dulles Greenway Wetlands Mitigation Project.

Loggerhead Shrikes are a State Threatened species so this is an exciting siting.  We’ve had one in the Leesburg area in past years off and on (photo shown here). It would be great if a population of them became established.

Learn more about Loggerhead Shrikes and their interesting behaviors here:
http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/loggerhead_shrike/id

A small gray, black, and white bird of open areas, the Loggerhead Shrike hardly appears to be a predator. But it uses its hooked beak to kill insects, lizards, mice, and birds, and then impales them on thorns to hold them while it rips them apart.

About 10 people, led by Andy Rabin and Mary Ann Good with assistance from Larry Meade, enjoyed a crisp morning bird walk at Banshee Reeks Nature Preserve, south of Leesburg on Saturday morning. 

We enjoyed not only seeing but also hearing the sweet songs of 3 Fox Sparrows.  A Hermit Thrush perched in an uncharacteristic high open perch, cocking his reddish tail.  Raptors were quite well represented with a Bald Eagle, Sharp-shinned Hawk, Cooper’s Hawk, pair of Red-shouldered Hawks, and 3 Red-tailed Hawks–woodpeckers and sparrows not so much so.

A complete list of birds from the walk is provided here: 
Canada Goose, Mallard, Black Vulture, Turkey Vulture, Bald Eagle – adult, Sharp-shinned Hawk, Cooper’s Hawk, Red-shouldered Hawk, Red-tailed Hawk, Rock Pigeon, Red-bellied Woodpecker, Downy Woodpecker, No. Flicker, Blue Jay, Am. Crow, Fish Crow – a flyover flock of about 30, calling, Com. Raven, Car. Chickadee, Tufted Titmouse, White-breasted Nuthatch, Car. Wren, Golden-crowned Kinglet, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, E. Bluebird, Hermit Thrush, Am. Robin, No. Mockingbird, Eur. Starling, Cedar Waxwing, Yellow-rumped Warbler – a couple small flocks, E. Towhee, Field Sparrow, Fox Sparrow – 3, Song Sparrow, White-throated Sparrow, Dark-eyed Junco, No. Cardinal, Am. Goldfinch

Loudoun Wildlife Conservancy and the Friends of Banshee Reeks host this bird walk on the second Tuesday of every month. No sign up is necessary, just come out and join us. It’s a lot of fun. For more information about our programs and field trips, visit our Calendar.

It’s time for another season of Project FeederWatch – a great program organized by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.

It’s easy to do because you can do it from the comfort of your home and it’s a great way to get to know the birds that live in your neighborhood.

Cornell charges a small fee to cover some of their expenses but you get some really nice resources when you sign up.  You can enter your data online too which is nice because then, if you continue year after year, you have a nice repository of information about your backyard birds.

By participating, you’re also contributing to a growing body of knowledge about the birds across North America and you can contribute it to our local effort to document species by signing up for our Loudoun County Bird Atlas project.