The Fearsome Fledglings’ third Birdathon was our best yet, with a new team member, new locations to explore and new birds. Our team this year was a group of friends ages 7-11 (Charlie and Henry Kabealo, Madeline and Eloise Coddington, Ignacio Menay, and Griffin Yealdhall), along with our unofficial members: George Kabealo, age 4, who provided moral support and entertainment, and Sarah Kabealo, who provided snacks and extra binoculars.

We started on Saturday morning with what has become our Birdathon tradition: breakfast at the Kabealos’ house, watching the birdfeeders. While enjoying our orange juice and cinnamon rolls, the team got a great start on the weekend, identifying a number of the more common backyard birds. After a quick walk around the yard (where we found Red-winged Blackbirds, Eastern Bluebirds, Brown-headed Cowbirds and more), we packed up and headed to Algonkian Park.

At Algonkian Park, some very kind (and very patient) birders from Loudoun Wildlife Conservancy were holding their annual Big Sit, and they helped our team find a number of great birds, including Common Mergansers, Great Egrets and Cedar Waxwings. We took a hike along the river and found more birds to add to our list, as well as several skinks, a few snakes, a raccoon and a lovely playground. There were a number of Baltimore Orioles along the river, and several of our team members had the exciting experience of hearing the birds overhead and working to see them clearly in their binoculars for the first time.

On Sunday, we met at Claude Moore Park, and while we enjoyed a nice walk and some time playing outside, the weather was windy and a bit rainy, and the birds weren’t being very cooperative. After a slow morning at Claude Moore, we headed to Broadlands Wetlands Preservation Area in Ashburn, where we had much better luck and added a Great Blue Heron, Barn Swallows and Song Sparrows to our list.

The team had a great time and beat our previous record by one, for a total of 47 species identified during the weekend.

Species List:
Canada Goose
Mallard
Mourning Dove
Double-crested Cormorant
Great Blue Heron
Black Vulture
Turkey Vulture
Red-shouldered Hawk
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Downy Woodpecker
Hairy Woodpecker
Pileated Woodpecker
Eastern Phoebe
Great Crested Flycatcher
Eastern Kingbird
Red-eyed Vireo
Blue Jay
American Crow
Carolina Chickadee
Tufted Titmouse
Tree Swallow
Barn Swallow
White-breasted Nuthatch
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
House Wren
Carolina Wren
European Starling
Gray Catbird
Northern Mockingbird
Eastern Bluebird
American Robin
Cedar Waxwing
House Sparrow
House Finch
Chipping Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Orchard Oriole
Baltimore Oriole
Red-winged Blackbird
Brown-headed Cowbird
Common Grackle
Northern Cardinal
Common Merganser
Great Egret
Osprey
Warbling Vireo

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