Four hardy birders joined John Denice and Pat Whittle for the Broad Run Stream Valley Park walk on January 18.  It was cloudy morning with rain at the outset, but then the weather improved.  Before we even walked through the tunnel from the parking lot to the park, we found an American Kestrel.  Then it was slow going with birds as we walked the path along Loudoun Parkway, although we did spook a fox from under the long wooden bridge/boardwalk.  Along the back we had a little more activity with a Belted Kingfisher, two Winter Wrens, a few Song Sparrows, Eastern Bluebirds, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, and a Golden-crowned Kinglet.  We also had Mallards and Hooded Mergansers in Broad Run.  As we came around the long pond we had a family of Northern Flickers, and a great many sparrows, including one Field Sparrow, along with two ravens.

We entered the woods by the garden plot and saw a Brown Creeper before finally seeing some of the more common birds: chickadees, titmice, a horde of White-throated Sparrows and three Red-shouldered Hawks.  Back to the parking lot we saw two Red-tailed Hawks, a Ring-billed Gull, and the ravens flew over us again.  Despite the weather, we found a total of 34 species of birds. The complete list can be viewed on eBird at:  https://ebird.org/checklist/S209771527.

Photo by Pat Whittle.

The post Six Birders and Plenty of Sparrows at Broad Run appeared first on Loudoun Wildlife Conservancy.