Highlights at Bles were the warblers, including Prairie Warbler and American Redstart and the two male Scarlet Tanagers.  We were able to get several of the birds in the scope and everyone was amazed at how beautiful the birds were. 

Surprisingly low numbers of woodpeckers at Bles, as well as sparrows (saw a White-crowned there last Sunday).  A pair of Ravens appear to be nesting somewhere out on the island, as they were spotted carrying food twice.  The Bald Eagle was a 2nd or 3rd year bird.

We were at the rookery long enough to answer everyone’s questions and allow plenty of time on the scope.  The Broadlands Mitigation Wetlands across from Harris Teeter right off the Greenway turned out to be just as fun as Bles.  The birds there don’t pay much attention to people and it offered great opportunities for pictures.

There were several people in the group who had never been birding before and said they had a great time and wanted to do it again.  We ran into the Raven Loonatics doing there Birdathon at Bles; they were pretty intense and said that they had picked up over 70 species at Algonkian in a little over two hours!

Bles Park:
Canada Goose, Wood Duck, pair, Mallard, Double-crested Cormorant, Great Blue Heron, Black Vulture, Turkey Vulture, Osprey, Bald Eagle, Red-shouldered Hawk, Spotted Sandpiper, Mourning Dove, Ruby-throated Hummingbird (males on territory), Red-bellied Woodpecker, Hairy Woodpecker, Great Crested Flycatcher, Blue Jay, American Crow, Common Raven (pair carrying food), Tree Swallow (in nestboxes), Barn Swallow, Carolina Chickadee, Tufted Titmouse, Blue-grey Gnatcatcher, Eastern Bluebird (in nestbox), American Robin, Grey Catbird (on territory), Northern Mockingbird (defending territory), Brown Thrasher, European Starling, Cedar Waxwing (several pairs, one we saw exchanging food), Yellow Warbler, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Prairie Warbler (on territory), American Redstart, Common Yellowthroat, Hooded Warbler, Yellow-breasted Chat (on territory), Scarlet Tanager, Field Sparrow, Northern Cardinal (male and female), Blue Grosbeak, Indigo Bunting, Red-winged Blackbird (male and female), Common Grackle, Orchard Oriole, House Finch, American Goldfinch, House Sparrow.

Great Blue Heron Rookery:
Great Blue Herons (numerous chicks in nests), Mockingbird, Common Grackle, Red-tailed Hawk, American Kestrel

Broadlands Wetland Mitigation near Harris Teeter on the Greenway:
Broad-winged Hawk, American Crow, Red-winged Blackbird (male and female), Orchard Oriole (male and female), Rough-winged Swallow pair, Tree Swallows (in nest boxes), Green Heron, Canada Goose with goslings, Mallard with ducklings, Killdeer, Solitary Sandpiper, Greater Yellowlegs, Lesser Yellowlegs, Eastern Bluebird.

The complete tally: Canada Goose,  Great Blue Heron, Turkey Vulture,  Bald Eagle,  Red-shouldered Hawk,  Rock Pigeon, Mourning Dove,  Red-bellied Woodpecker,  Yellow-bellied Sapsucker,  Downy Woodpecker,  Northern Flicker,  Pileated Woodpecker,  Eastern Phoebe,  Blue Jay,  American Crow,  Fish Crow,  crow sp., Carolina Chickadee,  Tufted Titmouse,  White-breasted Nuthatch,  Carolina Wren,  Winter Wren,  Ruby-crowned Kinglet,  American Robin,  Gray Catbird,  Northern Mockingbird,  European Starling,  Yellow-rumped Warbler,  Chipping Sparrow,  Field Sparrow,  Song Sparrow,  Swamp Sparrow,  White-throated Sparrow,  White-crowned Sparrow,  Dark-eyed Junco,  Northern Cardinal,  House Finch.  American Goldfinch,  House Sparrow.

For our walk, we went all around Bles Park – from the fields to the wetlands to the river, and we had some wonderful views of different birds.

We then went over to the Great Blue Heron rookery and observed them for awhile as they tended their nests. 

We finished our morning with a great walk through the nature trails around Loudoun Water where we had amazing views of Eastern Kingbirds among others.

We had an excellent day birding these areas, although some common species (year round-ers like woodpeckers as well as summer residents like the chats) were missing. Warblers were down too but we did get a great view of a Northern Parula (shown here).  

In all we had 54 species:

Canada Goose, Mallard, Double-crested Cormorant, Great Blue Heron, Great egret, Snowy egret, Green heron, Black vulture (poss. Nesting at Loudoun water), Turkey vulture, sharp-shinned hawk, Red-tailed hawk, Amer. Kestrel, Solitary sandpiper, Rock pigeon, Mourning dove, Chimney Swift, Belted kingfisher, Red-bellied woodpecker, Northern flicker, Peewee, Phoebe, Great Crested Flycatcher, Eastern kingbird, Red-eyed Vireo, Blue Jay, Amer. Crow, Fish Crow, Tree Swallow, Barn Swallow, Carolina Chickadee, Tufted Titmouse, Carolina Wren, Blue0gray gnat-catcher, Eastern bluebird, American Robin, Gray Catbird, Northern Mockingbird, European starling, Cedar waxwing, Northern Parula, Prairie warbler, Blackpoll warbler, Nothern Waterthrush, Common yellowthroat, Chipping sparrow, Song sparrow, Northern cardinal, Indigo bunting, Red-winged blackbird, Common grackle, Orchard Oriole, Baltimore Oriole, Amer. Goldfinch, House Sparrow

Many thanks to Gerry for such a great walk!  We had fun exploring the trail through Loudoun Water too!

For our walk last Saturday, we started by gathering in the parking area, discussing the possible species that we would encounter and listening to recordings of their calls. Through past nature walks at Bles, we’ve identified at least six species of frogs and toads that are definitely at Bles, but due to the time of year, we were most likely to only hear three of them (Green Frog, Gray Tree Frog and Bullfrog).

So, off we went along the trail. Bill Roberson from the county’s Parks and Recreation dept came out as a resource for us in case of anything which was great since it allowed us to just focus on wildlife. The park certainly looks different at night but donned with headlamps and flashlights, we were able to spot all sorts of great creatures.

As we walked along, we encountered numerous (at least 20)  juvenile American Toads (toadlets) out hunting for dinner -  hopping across our path and hunting through the grasses. There were also quite a few millipedes out hunting along with some really interesting beetles.

We were hoping for a slight drizzle to get the frogs to call but it missed us and the frogs stayed pretty quiet except for a lone Green Frog that called from along the river. As we explored along the river, we saw a bat or two hunting over the water. By the size of it, I’m guessing a Big Brown Bat.  We’ll have to bring the bat detector next time. We also had Great Blue Herons flying over just as the sun was setting.

The big fun of the evening was spotting the many Pickerel Frogs along the river.  They would have been breeding in the early spring time so it’s no surprise that they were not calling out their funny snore but it was great to spot them and practice some night photography.

We wrapped up our hike at 9pm.

Also in this issue, we have the continued adventures of Zoom and Compass as they discover worms. There’s also an interesting article on the Mourning Cloak butterfly, and a story of the lifecycle of bumblebees and their humble bumble homes (which you can build as a neat project). You can also learn about Lichens….part fungi, part algae or cyanobacteria…..oh this crazy world!

And, as always, our programs from now through July are listed along with programs offered by organizations with which we partner.

This latest edition of the Habitat Herald will be going out to our members in the next week. If you’re not yet a member, we could really use your support! You can join online. Your membership will run through December 2009!  ($20 for an individual, $30 for a family) and, it is tax deductible as allowed by the law. 

If you join soon we can get this latest issue of the Habitat Herald out to you in our next mailing – if you join after we have our mailing party then you’ll receive a copy of this issue in your New Member Information packet. The Habitat Herald is a member benefit and is published each quarter.

The following is the report that we also posted on eBird:
Location:     Bles Park
Observation date:     10/4/08
Notes:     Andy Rabin led a Family Bird walk at Bles Park in eastern Loudoun Co this morning.  The highlights were some well-seen warblers including a NASHVILLE, NORTHERN PARULA, and a PALM WARBLER.  Besides good numbers of CHIMNEY SWIFTS and TREE SWALLOWS we also found a few INDIGO BUNTINGS.
Number of species:     40

Canada Goose, Turkey Vulture, Red-shouldered Hawk, Red-tailed Hawk, American Kestrel, Rock Pigeon, Mourning Dove, Chimney Swift, Belted Kingfisher, Red-bellied Woodpecker, Downy Woodpecker, Hairy Woodpecker, Northern Flicker, Eastern Phoebe, Blue Jay, American Crow, Fish Crow, Tree Swallow, Northern Rough-winged Swallow, Carolina Chickadee, Tufted Titmouse, White-breasted Nuthatch, Carolina Wren, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Eastern Bluebird, Gray Catbird, Northern Mockingbird, European Starling, Nashville Warbler, Northern Parula, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Palm Warbler, Common Yellowthroat, Song Sparrow, Northern Cardinal, Indigo Bunting, Red-winged Blackbird, House Finch, American Goldfinch, House Sparrow

We also saw a few butterflies including Cabbage White, Clouded Sulphur, Common Buckeye, Eastern Comma, Monarchs

Joe Coleman

note: Photo shown is a flycatcher

We started the day at 10am at Bles Park then went to Claude Moore at noon and ended the day at Kephart Bridge Landing.

In total, we had 29 species!

Dragonflies: Common Green Darner, Swamp Darner, Unicorn Clubtail, Black-shouldered Spinyleg, Prince Basketail, Umber Shadowdragon, Calico Pennant, Halloween Pennant, Common Pondhawk,Spangled Skimmer, Slaty Skimmer, Widow Skimmer, Common Whitetail, Twelve-spotted Skimmer, Blue Dasher, Spot-winger Glider, Eastern Amberwing, Autumn Meadowhawk, Black Saddlebags

Damselflies: American Rubyspot, Blue-fronted Dancer, Powdered Dancer, Blue-tipped Dancer, Dusky Dancer, Familiar Bluet, Stream Bluet, Citrine Forktail, Eastern Forktail, Southern Spreadwing

Throughout the day, we practiced our netting skills, used small containers to look at individuals that we caught, and practiced how to properly hold a dragonfly for identification and release them.  The colors and patterns of all the varied species were beautiful.

Many thanks to Andy and Kevin for sharing this with us.