(Scroll down to skip introductory narrative and view the list.)
Yesterday Allen Larner and I did a Big Day -- limited to Augusta County,
covering parts of the southern half from the Blue Ridge to Shenandoah Mtn. We
started at 3 AM and finished shortly after 8 PM. To our knowledge this has not
been done before as an intentional and specific effort.
First bird: an Eastern Screech-Owl that flew through our headlight beam as we
were driving to a marsh need Springhill at around 3:30.
Last species: the nasal call of a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker up on Shenandoah
Mountain around 7 pm.
Best birds: the sapsucker, Black Tern, D-c Cormorants.
Other highlights: all 7 woodpeckers of the region, 5 vireos, 20 warblers.
Our route took us from a swamp near Springhill (struck out here as far as
hearing rails or night birds here) to Big Levels, where we got "chucks," but no
"whips." We did get the whips as we drove up 610 toward Afton Mtn. By dawn we
were on the parkway at Pioneer Village where we heard two woodcock, the first
of 2 Barred Owls, and the dawn chorus of woodland birds, including the first of
several Cerulean Warblers. Then down into the valley to the numerous ponds and
puddles that Allen checks on a regular basis. We did well at places like
Quillans (Ruddy Duck, Red-headed Woodpecker) and the SD Waste-water treatment
plant (Black Tern), but struck out at the Dupont ponds in Waynesboro where the
Black-crowned Night Heron was not on its regular day roost. The first of
several disappointments.
At 10 AM we got a Barn Owl in a barn neat Fishersville and had tallied just
over 100 species. The remaining 20 some birds were slow in coming, mostly one
at a time ...over the next 10 hours. The constant light to moderate wind made
the birding challenging. We encountered no fallouts of migrants.
Birding was unusually quiet in the early evening as we reached Shenandoah Mtn
where we hoped for a few of the higher elevation species. We did get one
Black-capped Chickadee at the Confederate Breastworks, but got totally skunked
on Veery and, even more surprising, Northern Parulas. We know both species are
there in moderate numbers but neither was singing in the late afternoon. We
walked several trails up there and heard no "veer" calls of Veery. Perhaps
they are not yet on territory in significant numbers? Warblers were not easy
either. With the exception of redstarts and ovenbirds, the others were in low
numbers. We stopped at Ramsey's Draft trailhead (about 3000 ft) on Shenandoah
Mtn around 6 PM. Historically, this is a reliable site, at least in the
morning, for Northern Parula, Blackburnian and Magnolia Warblers. Fortunately,
we knocked out Blackburnian in the morning on the Blue Ridge, but still needed
the other two. It was dead quiet, except for a distant Ovenbird.
Nevertheless, we skulked around the shrubs and forest edge pishing and hoping.
After 10 minutes a titmouse and a few Chipping Sparrows drew our attention to
some old apple trees and autumn olive where we spotted a pair of Magnolia
Warblers actively (but quietly) feeding. I also spotted a Canada, our second
of the day, and Allen found a Wilson's Warbler, only the second non-resident
warbler of our entire day.
Some of the other birds we expected but missed include Bald Eagle (a pair had
been regularly present in the Swoope area) and Prairie Warbler (couldn't get to
the known site for this species in the morning -- one can only be at one good
birding spot at a time!). Furthermore, we knew this is close to the late date
for White-crowned Sparrows but hoped that we could find at least one. Not to
be, and neither did we luck into a migrant Lincoln's Sparrow, which should be
passing through right about now.
By nightfall our mood was mixed. We were happy with our totals and elated with
the few special birds, but also disappointed with the ones we expected but
missed. We briefly debated staying out another hour or so in hopes of finding
a Great Horned Owl, but decided against this as both of us had early work
starts the next day.
We expect to do this again in future years, probably modifying our route and
strategy. We hope that this effort establishes a baseline or single day target
for Augusta County, and would like to challenge other birding teams to do
something similar in their home counties.
The following list has been compiled through eBird, a great repository for data
like this. http://ebird.org/content/
John Spahr
Staunton, VA
Location: Augusta Co.
Date: 13- May 2007
Number of Species 122
Number of Individuals 1,850
A. Larner & J. Spahr
SPECIES Number
Canada Goose 97
Wood Duck 10
Mallard 32
Ruddy Duck 2
Wild Turkey 1
Double-crested Cormorant 3
Great Blue Heron 7
Green Heron 2
Black Vulture 13
Turkey Vulture 73
Cooper's Hawk 1
Broad-winged Hawk 3
Red-tailed Hawk 10
American Kestrel 2
American Coot 1
Semipalmated Plover 3
Killdeer 9
Lesser Yellowlegs 4
Solitary Sandpiper 7
Spotted Sandpiper 22
Least Sandpiper 46
American Woodcock 2
Black Tern 1
Rock Pigeon 12
Mourning Dove 39
Yellow-billed Cuckoo 2
Barn Owl 1
Eastern Screech-Owl 1
Barred Owl 2
Chuck-will's-widow 2
Whip-poor-will 8
Chimney Swift 45
Ruby-throated Hummingbird 2
Belted Kingfisher 2
Red-headed Woodpecker 2
Red-bellied Woodpecker 8
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker 1
Downy Woodpecker 3
Hairy Woodpecker 2
Northern Flicker 9
Pileated Woodpecker 5
Eastern Wood-Pewee 2
Acadian Flycatcher 1
Willow Flycatcher 1
Eastern Phoebe 9
Great Crested Flycatcher 13
Eastern Kingbird 14
White-eyed Vireo 2
Yellow-throated Vireo 2
Blue-headed Vireo 6
Warbling Vireo 4
Red-eyed Vireo 29
Blue Jay 26
American Crow 46
Fish Crow 1
Common Raven 4
Horned Lark 1
Purple Martin 15
Tree Swallow 83
Northern Rough-winged Swallow 30
Cliff Swallow 53
Barn Swallow 73
Carolina Chickadee 7
Black-capped Chickadee 1
Tufted Titmouse 14
White-breasted Nuthatch 5
Carolina Wren 5
House Wren 7
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 7
Eastern Bluebird 23
Swainson's Thrush 3
Wood Thrush 18
American Robin 52
Gray Catbird 38
Northern Mockingbird 18
Brown Thrasher 22
European Starling 80
Cedar Waxwing 10
Yellow Warbler 6
Chestnut-sided Warbler 1
Magnolia Warbler 2
Black-throated Blue Warbler 1
Black-throated Green Warbler 4
Blackburnian Warbler 3
Pine Warbler 2
Blackpoll Warbler 3
Cerulean Warbler 9
Black-and-white Warbler 3
American Redstart 28
Worm-eating Warbler 5
Ovenbird 23
Louisiana Waterthrush 2
Kentucky Warbler 2
Common Yellowthroat 12
Hooded Warbler 10
Wilson's Warbler 1
Canada Warbler 2
Yellow-breasted Chat 1
Scarlet Tanager 21
Eastern Towhee 23
Chipping Sparrow 15
Field Sparrow 11
Vesper Sparrow 1
Savannah Sparrow 3
Grasshopper Sparrow 7
Song Sparrow 17
White-throated Sparrow 7
Dark-eyed Junco 17
Northern Cardinal 18
Rose-breasted Grosbeak 15
Blue Grosbeak 2
Indigo Bunting 33
Bobolink 17
Red-winged Blackbird 88
Eastern Meadowlark 45
Common Grackle 75
Brown-headed Cowbird 15
Orchard Oriole 3
Baltimore Oriole 6
House Finch 7
American Goldfinch 56
House Sparrow 6
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