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PVAS has three trips on slate in June

By Staff | May 27, 2011

The Potomac Valley Audubon Society is sponsoring three birding trips during the first two weeks of June. All of the trips will be free and anyone with an interest is welcome to come along.

All of the trips will be located in Jefferson County. For each trip, participants should plan to meet at 7 a.m. in the parking lot in front of the Martin’s Supermarket in the Jefferson Crossroads shopping Center in Charles Town.

This time of year there are many birds in the area, and all of the trips should offer good opportunities to see warblers, vireos, orioles, and flycatchers, as well as year-round birds.

This is also the breeding season for many bird species and data gathered from all the trips will be used for the West Virginia Breeding Bird Atlas program.

The three trips are as follows:

Wednesday, June 1: Shannondale Springs Wildlife Management Area. This 1,361-acre property is managed by the West Virginia Division of Natural Resources. It includes a mixture of forest, brush land and open fields covering rolling hills. The trip will involve walking about two miles over mostly level ground, although some hilly, uneven terrain will be encountered.

Wednesday, June 8: Altona Marsh west of Charles Town. This 70-acre marl wetland is one of the few such wetlands left in the area. It provides good habitat for a wide variety of bird species and the terrain offers easy viewing. This trip will also involve about two miles of level walking, but some of the route will be along a railroad track.

Saturday, June 11: Cool Spring Farm in southern Jefferson County. The farm’s 80+ acres contain habitats ranging from open fields to former orchard plots, as well as marshland along Bullskin Run. This trip’s two-mile walk will include some rolling hills.

Each trip will be led by Sandy Sagalkin, of Sharpsburg MD, who coordinates PVAS’s birding activities. For more information, contact him at monsansagalkin@myactv.net or 240-291-6465. In case of inclement weather for any individual trip, contact him to see if the trip is still on.

For each trip, participants should plan to wear comfortable walking or hiking boots; bring along bug spray to ward off ticks, mosquitoes and gnats; and bring water and, as necessary, a hat, sunscreen or rain gear. Binoculars will be available for those who do not own any.

Various details of each trip could change depending on weather and recent bird sightings.

The Potomac Valley Audubon Society is a United Way of the Eastern Panhandle partner agency and a member of the Combined Federal Campaign.