Photo: White-throated Sparrow, Dawn Phillips/Audubon Photography Awards

Leader is Mer Mietzelfeld.

Meet at the Frying Pan Park Visitor Center.

Frying Pan Farm Park is a Fairfax County park that is mainly geared toward recreation, featuring a model farm and equestrian facilities, and hosting seasonal concerts and festivals. But it also boasts open fields, wetlands, mixed woods, a stream, and a nature trail winding through all these different habitats. The nature trail passes through mixed woods in the north and northwest sections of the park, and meanders by a stream (Frying Pan Branch of Horsepen Run); it is good for woodland birds. The wetland and ponds at the northeast corner (adjacent to Monroe Street) are good for herons, waterfowl and marsh birds. In the southeast and central parts of the park, the farmland and open fields are good for raptors, as well as sparrows and other seed-loving birds.

This walk is also advertised to our Nextgen Birders for Conservation group targeting birders under 45.

Getting there: From Fairfax County Parkway (Rte 286), go west on West Ox Road (Rte. 608) to Visitor Center Parking lot at 2739 West Ox Rd