Field trip sponsored by Audubon Naturalist Society to Occoquan Bay NWR this morning, led by Jim Waggener and Ken Hollinga. Jim was focussed on counting butterflies (this is certainly a good time of year to be doing that), while I worried about my birds. We found Common Buckeye, Common Wood Nymph, Great Spangled Fritillary, many others. The buckeye and the fritillary are fabulous insects, almost splashy enough to turn me on to leps. And the wood nymph, though abundant, had a quiet dignity among the oaks.

We heard Blue Grosbeak (Guiraca caerulea) here and there, and then Ken and I found one perched up atop a tree. Lifer!

See my eBird trip report (registration required).

posted: 3:42:04 PM