Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!samsung!uunet!pyrdc!grebyn!milo!edm From: edm@verdix.com (Ed Matthews) Newsgroups: rec.birds Subject: Re: Earlybirds and Where is everyone? Message-ID: <1991Jun27.192016.4756@verdix.com> Date: 27 Jun 91 19:20:16 GMT References: Organization: Verdix Corp. Lines: 63 randall@proteus.CAM.ORG (Randall Reid) writes: >I used to read rec.birds about 1.5 years ago and then stayed away from >Usenet for quite a while. I restarted reading rec.birds a couple of >weeks ago and really notice a change. Where did everyone go? Things Summer having closed in on most of the US very early this year no doubt has had some effect on birders. We're fully into breeding season now and the migrants have long gone. So we're looking at the same old birds that we look at for most of the summer and don't think there's any great news to post about. A little news from Northern Virginia: The rails at Huntley Meadows had 14 chicks this year and are showing them off by parading them across the boardwalk. I fear the otters may get many of them, but nonetheless, still looks like a bumper crop. Sorry, forgot most of you aren't local, those are King Rails, the only freshwater marsh breeding rails in this neck of the woods. At the same location, the fuzzy baby Pied-Billed Grebes are also fun to watch. Saw a Least Bittern two weeks ago -- we're fortunate to have them breeding so near by. All the neighborhood bluebirds are on the second nesting now, with the babies fully fledged for weeks now. Now that the grasses and thistles are maturing, the American Goldfinches have moved off into the fields and away from the thistle feeder. They'll be back in a few weeks to gouge themselves before breeding. Then they'll disappear again until they bring the newly fledged babies back to the feeder to fatten up for the fall. They're a ball to watch as they flutter their wings trying to keep their balance at the feeder. We seem to have a really large population of breeding Prairie Warblers here west of DC. They are easily the most commonly heard warbler in this part of the county. I have seen an unusual number of Ovenbirds this year -- a bird that can be difficult at best to see. Got two pairs of Louisana Waterthrushes breeding near my house. A tremendous crop of House Sparrows this here -- regarded as unfortunate by many. The jury is still out though because the hordes of babies are waging war on the Japanese Beetles and other insects infesting my yard and garden. >Can any of you more experienced birders tell me >if one really has to be up at the crack of dawn to have a good birding >day... It really depends on the time of the year and when the sun really starts to come up good. In the spring, even when I'm out at 6 a.m., the sun is not really up and going until after 7. A few warblers will be about and singing at 6, but they increase starting about 7 and the high point is probably 7:30 to 9 a.m., after which it dies off. Marsh birds really can be quite vocal especially in the hour before dawn. And Pileated Woodpeckers are most active in the first couple of hours after dawn. -- Ed Matthews edm@verdix.com Verdix Corporation Headquarters (703) 378-7600 Chantilly, Virginia