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March 31, 2009 [LINK / comment]

Vireo, Cormorant, Blackbird

I had three interesting sightings at three different locations today, just in time to make it by the end of the month.

At the Peaks of Otter late this morning, I heard a strangely familiar song in the trees, and within a few minutes spotted my first Blue-headed Vireo of the season. Only one day later than my earliest-ever sighting of that species! (March 30, 2000)

In the town of Buchanan, I spotted a Double-crested Cormorant flying east over the James River. The orange beak patch was prominent, even 100+ feet up. It circled a few times to gain altitude, and then headed north over a ridge, crossing right in front of the crescent moon. Wow! Many Tree Swallows were zooming around, accompanied by a few Northern Rough-winged Swallows.

Finally, McCormick's Mill was much quieter than my visit there last week, but I did get a very good look at one of the Rusty Blackbirds (a male), carefully observing the beak shape and listening to the song to confirm that it was not a Brewer's Blackbird. Tree Swallows and Yellow-rumped warblers were also conspicuous.

Posted (or last updated or commented upon): 31 Mar 2009, 11: 37 PM

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Blog highlights have been compiled for the years 2010-2012 thus far, and eventually will be compiled for earlier years, back to 2002.


Explanation

The "home made" blog organization system that I created was instituted on November 1, 2004, followed by several functional enhancements in subsequent years. I make no more than one blog post per day on any one category, so some posts may cover multiple news items or issues. Blog posts appear in the following (reverse alphabetical) order, which may differ from the chronological order in which the posts were originally made:

  1. Wild birds (LAST)
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  4. Politics
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  6. Culture & Travel
  7. Canaries ("Home birds")
  8. Baseball (FIRST)