Photo by Michael Sciortino

Eighteen people enjoyed the monthly bird walk at Banshee Reeks on July 12.  Joining us were a few new folks who had not been on a walk with Loudoun Wildlife before.  As is usually the case, we started off  with good birds in the parking lot.  We had an Eastern Kingbird, Chimney Swifts, a Ruby-throated Hummingbird, Northern Mockingbird and Indigo Bunting among others.  We went back down the road, down to the Raspberry Trail and down to Goose Creek and then back up to the pond.  Common Yellow-throats were indeed common as we had them in many locations.  We had Prairie Warblers, Field Sparrows, and Yellow-breasted Chats.  We had Great Crested Flycatchers, Acadian Flycatchers and Blue-gray Gnatcatchers.

Eastern Box Turtle.
Photo by Michael Sciortino

We saw and heard Common Ravens in multiple locations and Northern Parulas in two spots. We also found a Bald Eagle and three Yellow-billed Cuckoos.  It was getting hot and humid so we kept the pace up and got back to the Visitor Center before 11:00 am.  The highlight of the walk was not a bird, but a male Eastern Box Turtle.  Linda showed us it was a male by the small indentation on the underside of his shell which helps him stay on the female when mating.  We also had some nice butterflies, but unfortunately did not get pictures.

The complete list of birds recorded can be viewed on eBird at: https://ebird.org/checklist/S259317698.

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