Distant Garden - Montpelier Birds

Madisons' distant garden

We took our second drive to Montpelier today - the home of James Madison, near Orange, Virginia. My wife's sister is visiting from California, so we planned to make the two-hour drive, regardless that there was a good chance of rain. The two hours we spend on the grounds of the estate didn't produce any appreciable rain, and our tour guide was full of information. The house is still in the process of restoration, but much has been done since last September when we visited the first time with my brother. The mansion is more than an hours' drive from Washington, D.C., so one must go a bit out-of-the-way to visit - the crowds are small which complements the peaceful surroundings - the place is idyllic - dripping in history, pleasing to the eye. We love Mount Vernon, but there is just something about being out in the countryside, past so many rolling hills, and farms. If not for the signs along the roads leading to Montpelier, you would never know of the shattered peace at places like Manassas, Chancellorsville, and Wilderness. These would seem to now be wonderful places to bird in Virginia.

We will have to make a third trip sometime - we didn't leave Annapolis until 11:45, so with the normal two hour drive, a little extra traffic today, and a five-o'clock closing, we didn't have that much time after the tour to walk about the grounds, especially through the gardens and in-and-out of the tree lines around the estate where there were many birds singing and calling to one another, and to a visitor with

Hardscape, and a little soft

field glasses and a camera. As we walked up to the mansion, American Crow, Common Grackle, and a Cooper's Hawk were flying north in the distance - the songs of birds were coming from the woods along the path from Visitor Center to the mansion. Barn Swallows (a) were also flying in and out under the eaves of the entrance - even as we waited on the portico, listening to our tour guide's introduction. From inside the house when looking out the windows, an occasional Grackle flew by, heading to the front law that interrupts the view west towards the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. After the tour and our backdoor exit, American Robins were seen on the large lawn behind the house, and as I walked back to look, a Brown Thrasher joined them and then coyly kept his distance - flying towards the trees bordering the turf at the back. In a large tree near the path on the way to garden's entrance, a White-breasted

Three Montpelier birds

Nuthatch (b) crept down an massive tree limb - coming in and out of the shadows, making it difficult to get a decent final photograph. As walking through the brick gate, bird songs continued, and immediately a Brown Thrasher landed on the gravel path and maneuvered in and out of the hedge border, even landing on a rail to the steps that led down into the lower garden - below where the beds of spring corms and bulbs were in bloom - peonies and iris, and others. A pair of Northern Mockingbird (c) flew into the garden in the distance towards the southern garden wall - landing on the turf, across to some trees to the southwest, and then flying up into the spruce trees to the eastern border of the garden.

Horses' afternoon grazing

My wife and her sister-in-law had gone on without me to see the exhibits of the era when William and Annie duPont owned the home. It was getting towards closing time, and I wanted to keep birding, but it was time to move on. There was a small bird on an electric wire continually singing, but silhouetted against the overcast sky back lighted by the late-afternoon sun - no way to make an identification, no matter what angle I took - perhaps a flycatcher of some kind, hard to tell - it will have to be another day. Horses in a fenced pasture below - down the slope from the ridge at the foot of the garden, grazing grasses and clovers.

Northern Mockingbird

Common Grackle

Northern Cardinal

Barn Swallow

Brown Thrasher

American Robin

White-breasted Nuthatch
American Crow

Montpelier and American Crow

As we were driving away, and taking a last look at the house, we stopped for one last photograph - we were still in tourist mode. While I took a shot through the haze with crows and grackles on the lawn, several Northern Cardinal flew by the car.  No new species to add to my list - with Eastern Bluebird boxes mounted on fence post, alone along the road, seeming unattended.
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Some good reference sites on the Web for birding in Virginia can be found clicking here, here, here, and here.