Category: In the Field

At the park: 156

First report of the season for our nestboxes for Wood Duck and Hooded Merganser:

As I (successfully, for once) predicted, our birds have not begun laying in our 16 boxes, due to the snow and cold in February. We added fresh chips to all and trimmed back vegetation around some of the boxes along Barnyard Run.

We have plenty of plastic bags in the shed for carrying chips; we have almost used up our supply of chips. I’ll make a note for next winter to request more chips.

I will bring supplies to touch up the numbers on a couple of the boxes.

L. spotted a handsome Dark Fishing Spider (Dolomedes tenebrosus) in the shed.

See you next Sunday, same time and place. Remember that we switch over to Daylight Saving Time at 2 AM that morning….

Thank you!

My year in hikes and field trips, 2025

Most of my outings are walks rather than hikes these days.

Yet another middling successful season of monitoring nest boxes at Huntley Meadows Park, Fairfax County, Va. I performed invasive surveys and management in several locations in Northern Virginia, including the Nature Conservancy’s Fraser Preserve.

Christmas Bird Count 2025: Central Loudoun

Cold front blowing through at mid-day: a sprinkle of rain, then 20+ mph winds. The trees around the Ashburn Library pond were birdier than usual (I spotted a Ruby-crowned Kinglet), as if to compensate for the lack of interesting birds on the pond. The ponds at Graves Lane/Corder Place now have swan decoys posted, perhaps to discourage the Canada Geese, at which task they were moderately successful; unfortunately, they may have discouraged the interesting ducks, too.

We found a few Eastern Bluebirds (Sialia sialis) against the gray skies.

Christmas Bird Count 2025: Seneca

frostingThe CBC for the Seneca count circle took place on 14 December. Overnight left a frosting of snow, followed by dropping temperatures and wind. I lost two counters due to illness, a third to the weather, and a fourth to travel. Nevertheless, my team in sector 14 turned up 47 species (pending returns from one more feeder watcher). Lake Fairfax was nearly completely iced over, with nothing but Canada Geese loafing in the open water and a lonely Ring-necked Duck foraging. Our special birds were (pending review) Cackling Goose (Branta hutchinsii), Broad-winged Hawk (Buteo platypterus), and Orange-crowned Warbler (Leiothlypis celata).

I started an iNaturalist project to keep tabs on possible sightings on future counts. So I was at least able to add a Dark-eyed Junco (Junco hyemalis) to the project.

Meterstones, 2025

Small accomplishments during the year, not otherwise accounted for. Not major milestones, but bigger than inchstones.

  • I completed 1000 hours of service as a Virginia Master Naturalist.
  • I repainted my front door, using a color match of the paint under the kickplate: alas, my cluster association palette calls for a paint color no longer offered by any vendor. My paint job looks OK from the curb, but not that great close up.
  • I’m wrapping up my fifth Christmas Bird Count (CBC) as a sector leader in the Seneca count circle.
  • I earned a Grognard Mirabilaire badge with Wikipedia. Still no barnstars.

Violette’s Lock 2025

how many miles?I’ve been to this bit of the C&O Canal at least once before back when I was starting to learn plants, probably more. Wednesday it was very quiet: I think we’re far enough upriver to be out of the flight paths for DCA. Sassafras showing fall reds and yellows, some lingering asters like Symphyotrichum cordifolium. I found an ichneumonid wasp, tentatively Coleocentrus rufus, and an oil beetle, Meloe sp. J. D. Pinto in BugGuide says, “It is difficult to distinguish females of Meloe americanus from M. impressus without examining pygidial structure (americanus females have a narrow apical flange).” (link added)

Charlottesville overnight

I did a quick overnight to Charlottesville to visit two sites.

First up was James River State Park. This was supposed to be an easy stroll to get park #27 punched on my Trail Quest ticket. I didn’t intend to break out my camera with the long lens. But, walking along the River Trail, I found a damselfly that I didn’t recognize, so I scooted back to my car to get the camera. The damsel turned out to be male and female Smoky Rubyspots (Hetaerina titia). Pretty cool!

Then this morning I participated in a short two-hour bioblitz at the Nature Conservancy’s Fernbrook Natural Area. We worked in the parcel that was newly added to the property; it showed a long life as pasture and homestead, with a stupendous stand of bamboo! Fortunately, there were some natives to be found, and I added Paspalum laeve to the property’s iNaturalist project (as well as to my own list of species, I discovered to my slight surprise). And, alas, it looks like I am the first to document Spotted Knapweed (Centaurea stoebe) at the site.

Occoquan Bay NWR

Yet another trip to Occoquan Bay NWR, this time led by Ken Rosenthal of Reston Association’s Walker Nature Center. The birding was rather slow; I lugged my scope to get some decent views of Bald Eagle and Osprey.

Otherwise, I picked up some new personal species records for iNaturalist, including Rough Cocklebur (Xanthium strumarium), Differential Grasshopper (Melanoplus differentialis), Sugarcane Beetle (Euetheola humilis), and Transverse-banded Flower Fly (Eristalis transversa) A lot of the interesting stuff was along the shore of the bay.

VNPS 2025: Dragon’s Tooth and Grassy Hill

Two short walks on the lower reaches of rocky trails to Roanoke area specialties.

Bradley Simpson steered us on the trail to Dragon’s Tooth in Roanoke County—we didn’t traverse any of the truly rugged patches. The destination species here is Buffalo Nut (Pyrularia pubera), found in fruit by participant S between the parking area and the biffy. Buffalo Nut is kin to Piratebush in that both are hemiparasitic, and Piratebush can also be found at Dragon’s Tooth.

persistingOther goodies included generous blooms of Collinsonia canadensis, Autumn Coralroot (Corallorhiza odontorhiza) in fruit, and a bit of Bowman’s Root (Gillenia trifoliata) (thanks, SA!) showing one spent flower. This Chestnut Oak (Quercus prinus) is giving some staying power vibes.

Nate Silver, helpful guide from last year, took us on part of the Slope Trail at Grassy Hill NAP. As with Dragon’s Tooth, much of the flora here was done flowering and fruiting, for example a skullcap (Scutellaria sp.), Clasping Milkweed (Asclepias amplexicaulis), Canadian Burnet (Sanguisorba canadensis), and Goat’s Rue (Tephrosia virginiana).

We didn’t get high enough to find the poster child for the Preserve, but Nate gave me a tip on where to find fameflower on my next trip to Franklin County. And he did locate a lovely patch of flowering Blue Monkshood (Aconitum uncinatum) for us.

On my drives downstate, I usually see a sign for some community activity that rings my WTF bells. This time it was cow pie bingo. Hmm, it looks like I wouldn’t have to travel far to play.

Richmond getaway 2025

I did a short weekend in Richmond, anchored by the Virginia Master Naturalists conference. I attended only one field trip, and one indoor session. A few of the sessions duplicated webinars that I’ve attended recently. But it was nice to walk a bit with Johnny Townsend on trails at Pony Pasture (where I had visited with Genevieve Wall last year.)

Friday was hot, so for my first visit to Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden (free! thanks, Friends of National Arboretum reciprocal membership), I ducked into the shade as much as I could.

Today started out cool and rainy. My intent was to stop by Widewater State Park for a quick visit. Giving the rain a chance to blow off, I took the long way home on U.S. 1 instead of I-95. Widewater, though small and designed for water access, had a few treats to offer: a single inflorescence of Marsh Fleabane (Pluchea odorata), a pollinator garden bursting with Bidens and host to two new moths for me, Goldenrod Stowaway (Cirrhophanus triangulifer) and Hawaiian Beet Webworm Moth (Spoladea recurvalis), and some late Summer Azures. Osprey, Belted Kingfisher, and Double-crested Cormorant scooting about on Aquia Creek.

Elklick Woodlands meadow

shoulder deep in itA quick report from the meadow unit of Elklick Woodlands Natural Area Preserve, accompanied by Darko Veljkovic and other Fairfax County Park Authority Staff. No trail, just bushwhacking through this property that’s been under restoration, with prescribed burns last year and the year before. Still lots of non-natives to be winkled out, but the Bidens aristosa are having a great time. We also found Sweet Everlasting (Pseudognaphalium obtusifolium), a relative of pussytoes.

At the park: 155

Finally closing out my reports for the Wood Duck and Hooded Merganser nesting season:

It’s not yet Labor Day, so I’m calling this report on time. Here’s our season totals.

Our Wood Ducks started one more clutch than 2024 (11 vs. 10), but lost 5 of them (3 to predation, 2 to abandonment). 111 eggs laid, 61 hatched, 55% estimated fledging success.

Our Hooded Mergansers started two more clutches than last year (4 vs. 2); 1 was lost to abandonment. 51 eggs laid, 33 hatched, 65% estimated fledging success.

It’s a typical pattern year-to-year that the HOMEs start fewer clutches but achieve about 10 points better fledging success.

Of the 16 boxes, 12 were used. We had double clutches in 3 of the boxes, with 5 of the 6 clutches successful — including one clutch that did not hatch until an estimated 8 July.

As I noted above, we lost 3 clutches to predation, presumably to Black Rat Snakes in all 3 cases. Plus, we found snakes in two other boxes; these may have consumed eggs that we didn’t have the opportunity to count.