Hellow All,
I want to thank all of you who posted sightings of the Snow Buntings seen
near Centreville, and for the great directions. This bird has been at the
top of my winter birding wish list for years. I am very happy to report
that they were still on Rolling Bridge Road early this afternoon.
I drove over from Virginia today with great hopes of seeing a life bird. I
thought my chances were pretty good since they seem to have been in that
area about a week with the last posting on Feb 1.
I drove into Centreville on Rt. 213 for a lunch stop before going right on
Rt 304. Then, I turned right on Rolling Bridge Road, but saw nothing on my
first pass down the road. I turned around near 301. This time, when I was
almost back to Rt. 304. I saw a small flock of Horned Locks on the left
between the road and the houses. They were pretty far back, closer to the
road in the housing development. I decided to try to get onto that road.
Went back to 304, turned left, but found there was no access to that
development from 304. So I turned around, planning to go back down Rolling
Bridge Road to find a way in. However, I hit the jackpot just after I made
my right on R.B. Rd. A large flock of birds was flying over the road,
landing in the field on the right side before you get to the houses. Most
of the birds were Horned Larks, but even before I got my scope on them I
spotted at least two Snow Buntings. I had fantastic views. Several times I
had three Snow Buntings in my scope at the same time. Since I kept at least
one of them in my scope at all times, I don't know if there were more than
three.
On my way home, I drove over to Bloomingdale Road where I again had
fantastic good fortune and found the American Pipits that someone had posted
recently. This person (sorry, I no longer have the post) saw three of them
about 1/3 mi. down Bloomingdale from Rolling Bridge. The 6 birds I saw
today were very ciose to the intersection with Rt. 50.
Thanks again, everyone. It was well worth the trip.
Lori Keeler
Arlington, VA
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