The Loudoun Wildlife Conservancy paid its first ever visit to Highland
Co this past weekend. It was the first time any of us had visited
Highland Co in the winter and we weren't disappointed! The snow
squalls which ended up totaling about 3" just made it better. We had
50 species in Highland Co and a total of 56 species for the whole
trip.
John Spahr was kind enough to lead us around Staunton Friday afternoon
& in Highland Co on Saturday through early afternoon. The highlights
of the trip began with a TUNDRA SWAN in a small pond next to the
Quality Inn (exit 225 on I-81) near Staunton. While there weren't any
Short-eared Owls on Bell's Lane there were several birds of prey,
including a few Harriers, snipe, and sparrows.
The highlights in Highland County included 9 (NINE!), GOLDEN EAGLES
scattered all over the county (3 Sat. morning and 6 on Sunday
morning), one light phase ROUGH-LEGGED HAWK a little west of Blue
Grass, and 3 RUFFED GROUSE perched in a tree right next to the road
not far from Blue Grass. Our other highlights in Highland Co were one
RED-SHOULDERED HAWK and one BLACK DUCK. See details for the
highlights in the entire list below.
Trip list (where there's a 2nd # it is for the Bell's Lane area nr
Staunton in Augusta Co:
Canada Goose
TUNDRA SWAN 0/1 in small pond between the main road (Rte 275) and the
Quality Inn (on east side of I-81) on both Fri. afternoon & Sat.
morning
AMERICAN BLACK DUCK 1 in small pond off Rte 642 little west of Blue Grass
Mallard x/x
Green-winged Teal
Great Blue Heron
Black Vulture 0/x
Turkey Vulture 0/x
Bald Eagle 1 immature on Sat. & 1 adult on Sunday, both Highland Co
Northern Harrier x/x
Sharp-shinned Hawk x/x
Red-shouldered Hawk - the one in Highland Co was at Mill Gap sitting
in a small tree amongst a couple feeders & surrounded by at least a
100 birds busily feeding
Red-tailed Hawk common in both counties
ROUGH-LEGGED HAWK 1 light phase on Rte 642 a little west of Blue
Grass; was being harassed by 3 or 4 clearly larger Ravens
GOLDEN EAGLE 2 of the 3 on Sat. were actually in WVA near Snowy Mtn, 1
was a little west of Blue Grass; of the 6 on Sunday, 3 were on Rte 84
near Mill Gap, 2 were right over Blue Grass (& nearby =96 we watched
them hunt were some time) and 1, the only adult, about a mile north of
Monterey flying over the ridge east of Rte 220
American Kestrel common in both counties
Wild Turkey
RUFFED GROUSE 3 perched in a tree at eye level right along side Rte
640 north of Blue Grass & a little before the WVA line
American Coot 0/5 in pond off of Bell's Lane
Killdeer x/x
Wilson's Snipe common in both counties in right habitat
Rock Pigeon x/x
Mourning Dove x/x
Belted Kingfisher a few in Highland Co
RED-HEADED WOODPECKER 1 in Highland Co a little west of Blue Grass
Yellow-bellied WP
Red-bellied WP
Downy WP x/x
Hairy WP
Northern Flicker x/x
Pileated WP x/x
Blue Jay x/x
American Crow x/x
Common Raven
HORNED LARK
Carolina Chickadee 0/x
Black-capped Chickadee
Tufted Titmouse
White-breasted Nuthatch
Eastern Bluebird x/x
American Robin x/x
Northern Mockingbird x/x
European Starling abundant everywhere
AMERICAN PIPIT it was great clearly seeing these birds hopping from
rock to rock in the streams alongside several roads; for those of us
who usually find these birds in fields it helped explained their old
name, Water Pipit
Song Sparrow x/x
White-throated Sparrow x/x
White-crowned Sparrow 0/x
Dark-eyed Junco x/x very abundant in Highland Co
Northern Cardinal x/x
Red-winged Blackbird x
Eastern Meadowlark
Common Grackle x/x
Brown-headed Cowbird x/x
House Finch x/x
American Goldfinch x/x
House Sparrow x/x
NO crossbills, Purple Fiches or Pine Siskins
Joe Coleman
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