Field Ornithology Journal #4

On Thursday, May 27th I went to Huntley Meadows Park in Fairfax, Virginia from 7 AM- 12 PM. The temperature was around 85 degrees, and partly cloudy in the morning but the sun came out at around 9:45 AM and there was a light breeze throughout the day. The park begins in a dense deciduous forest with a lot of canopy cover and a dense under story. There were thunderstorms last night so the forest was particularly humid. The forest eventually opens up into a vast open wetland consisting of marsh lands with vernal pools that all eventually lead into a large pond. There was a board walk for traversing the entire wetland. In the forest, it was difficult to discern different species because of the thick vegetation, and loud cicadas. However, a few species were heard like the Cedar Waxwing, Eastern Wood -Pewee, American Goldfinch, and a few species of woodpeckers (Downy and Pileated), as well as other song bird species. They were mostly all in the tops of the overstory and singing fairly consistently. But the woodpeckers were climbing along the trees along with the White-breasted Nuthatches. Once in the wetland, the some of the species swimming or standing in the water were Mallards, American Black Duck, Great Blue Heron, and the Green Heron. They were in some of the vernal pools but mainly in the main pond. I saw a family of Canada Geese swimming across the pond which was really cool to see, and the gosling were still small which I don't get to see often. There were many species flying across the wetlands like the Common Grackle, Red-winged Blackbird, Tree Swallows, and Barn Swallows. They were all singing and flying and diving in and out of the shrubbery as well as flying into the dispersed trees. Many of them would interact in the air and chase each other regardless of the species type. There were Osprey and Red-tailed Hawks flying overhead, and the hawks appeared to just be circling, but I could see the Opsrey looking for fish, and trying to get better angles for hunting which I'd never seen before. I also so multiple American Crows chasing a Green Heron through the air which was the most exciting thing I saw today!

Posted on May 27, 2021 10:39 PM by iadeslaw