FreeLists / va-bird / [va-bird] Bird notes from Augusta and Rockingham counties

[JMIrvine@xxxxxxx]

Yesterday afternoon (Sunday, February 1st) I happened to be in the Swoope 
area of Augusta County and spent the last hour before sundown birding.  On a 
farm 
on Rt. 703 (Hewitt Road) about a mile or less east of Swoope, I searched 
through a flock of about a hundred Horned Larks and was finally rewarded with 
two 
Lapland Longspurs.  There were no Snow Buntings in the flock.  Nearby a 
Northern Harrier and a Red-tailed Hawk had a confrontation by the side of the 
road 
with some flouncing around; the Red-tailed was the last to depart the premises. 
 I never could see if prey was involved.  Then I looked for Short-eared Owls 
on the Middle River watershed along Rt. 705 (North Mountain Road) where I have 
seen them in previous years, but saw none.
Late this afternoon at Lake Campbell (Massanetta Springs) single drakes each 
of Canvasback, Redhead, and Greater Scaup were present along with the usual 
respectable (though, as always, vastly overloaded on the drake side) crowd of 
Ring-necked ducks.  At nearby Lake Shenandoah, six drake and two duck Redheads 
were present along with the usual complement of American Coot, Gadwall, Mallard 
and a few Canada Geese, and I flushed a Great Blue Heron.  A nice little 
memento before tonight's storm strikes...

John Irvine
Harrisonburg, VA


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