July 1, 2006 [LINK]

Good morning on Bell's Lane

I was recently contacted by Hal Brindley, a professional nature photographer who just opened a gallery in Charlottesville. Anyone with an interest in wildlife should visit his Web site: Creature Gallery. Immediately!

I went for a drive on Bell's Lane this morning, under the mistaken impression that there was going to be a bird club field trip there, but it must be for tomorrow. Anyway, I'm very glad I went, as I spotted a male Blue grosbeak singing in the top of a tree. I saw a female of that species earlier this year, but it is still a very unusual sighting. I also saw an Eastern kingbird literally "hitching a ride" on the back of a Red-tailed hawk. Jacqueline and I had seen a kingbird pull that stunt several years ago, and it's really amazing. Here are the rest of today's highlights:

• Indigo buntings (M)
• Field sparrow
• E. kingbird
• E. phoebe
• Red-tailed hawk
• Grasshopper sparrow (FOS)
• Yellow warblers (M, F, Js)
• Red-bellied woodpecker
• Downy woodpecker
• N. flickers
• Willow flycatcher
• Meadowlark
• [Blue grosbeak (M)]
• [Orchard orioles (M, 1YM, F, Js)]
• [Baltimore orioles (M, 1YM)]
• [Blue-gray gnatcatcher]
• [Brown Thrashers]
• [Goldfinches (M, F)]

[UPDATE: In my haste, I neglected to include the latter, bracketed species in the original post. To clarify about the Blue grosbeak, I saw it on the lane along Lewis Creek just north of Route 275 just east of I-81, where I have seen the orioles on a regular basis this summer. The Kingbird and Red-tailed hawk were in the same area.]