Izaak Walton League, Bethesda-Chevy Chase Chapter, Conservation Farm

Leader: Jim Nelson.

Participants: 10.

Weather: Sunny, starting in the mid-40s and rising to upper 70s.

Species: 56.

Thanks to the IWL-BCC, our group once again enjoyed access to this prime private property near Poolesville with a great mix of habitats. IWL-BCC member Larry Anderson acted as our escort. Many of our birds were heard only, and not everyone got to see or hear each species. We had only 5 species of warblers – Black and White, Common Yellowthroat, Northern Parula, Yellow-rumped, and singing Prairie Warblers. Among the specialties at this site, we had at least 30 Purple Martins at the martin housing complex on site, and in the fields several singing Grasshopper Sparrows with two sitting up for relatively good views. We also were treated to three vocal Yellow-breasted Chats, one of which was singing from a very high perch in a tree giving all of us good views of this usually stealthy species, and three male Scarlet Tanagers in the woods all within a few feet of each other. Other good birds included Double-crested Cormorant, Great Blue and Green Herons, Osprey, Cooper’s Hawk, White-eyed and Yellow-throated Vireo, Red-breasted Nuthatch, Wood Thrush, abundant Chipping and Field Sparrows, several stealthy Eastern Towhee singing, Orchard Oriole, and singing male Indigo Buntings. We also had Eastern Phoebe, Great-crested Flycatcher, and Eastern Kingbird. We tallied 30 Blue Jays and probably missed others as groups were moving through, probably migrants. Driving in along Izaak Walton Way just before the field trip started, the leader heard a singing Eastern Meadowlark in the large farm field to the south and saw a male Blue Grosbeak perched on a wire by the road.