birding at Ft. Loudoun Dam

I finally made it to a field trip! I had a great time, even though it was hot and humid. The field trip was to the Ft. Loudoun Dam area. We started off at the lower dam overlook, where we saw an osprey on the nest. We then drove to the Anheuser-Busch packing plant where we stood on the loading dock to see a bald eagle. Next, the area around Bussell Ferry Rd, where we could see lots of great blue herons on the nest. We went to a field behind a church to see more great blue nests (we also saw a red-tailed hawk), then back to the dam, the upper overlook this time. I had fun observing the different swallows, since I'm trying to learn them. Barn Swallows have distinctly forked tails; I should be able to remember them now. After looking at swallows and herons and cormorants, we drove to the Tellico side of the dam, where I got my first life bird of the day. There is a colony of Cliff Swallows living underneath the bridge near the recreation area. There must've been about 150 swallows. I was pretty tired by this point and thinking I should've brought my car so I could leave when I wished, but I'm glad I didn't, because near the swimming area I got my 2nd life bird of the day. Denise asked what a bird was that was making noises above her, and I said it was a Robin, but Tony said it was an Orchard Oriole. (Perhaps I had seen them before!) We followed the Oriole and watched it for awhile, then found 2 females and 2 juveniles. The females look nothing like an Oriole: they're yellow on bottom and olive-yellow on top with white wing bars.

I'm looking forward to the next trip, in two weeks. David Trently is leading that trip, and he's a fantastic leader, very knowledgeable. I'm very pleased with my new binoculars, Monarch ATB 10x42. I could see colors much better today.

In other news, I am learning a lot about poison ivy. Apparently I was exposed on Memorial Day. It took a few days to react, probably because I haven't had a reaction in years. I have a nasty rash on my arm. To add insult to injury, I seem to be allergic to the latex bandaid I was using to cover it. I have a square, bandage-size rash surround the ivy blisters.