VA Birders,
Here's something I never thought I'd say - Rough-legged Hawks 12,
Red-tailed Hawks 4. Wow. Highland County today was amazing. Greg and
I saw a total of 12 Rough-legged Hawks spread out both north and south
of Rt. 250. Along Rt. 640 north of Blue Grass, there was kettle of
three light birds circling nicely with a Golden Eagle in the
background. Then, along Rt. 640 south of Blue Grass, there were three
more light ones (one of them harrassing a raven) and a dark one. South
of Rt. 250, but still on Rt. 640, we found two dark Rough-legs and then
three more light ones on Rt. 84 just north of where Rt. 640 hits it. It
was really cool to see all the different plumages and get such great
looks at them perched and flying. The most Rough-legged Hawks either of
us had ever seen in one day.
The feeders in McDowell were teaming with finches at 8:15 this morning.
Heading from east to west, the ones on the right had over 100
goldfinches feeding on them and under them with approximately 30 Pine
Siskins mixed in. The ones on the left had another 40 or so goldfinches
with a few Pine Siskins and two Purple Finches. When we returned to
them this afternoon about 3:30 all the siskins and most of the
goldfinches were absent. Instead, there were chickadees, cardinals, and
house sparrows. There were four Purple Finches at the ones on the left
however. The Beverage's Feeder in Monterey had mostly goldfinches. We
did not see any siskins there.
Rt. 642 (the road to Snowy Mountain) still had a road closed sign but we
heeded the many tire tracks passing around the sign and found that the
road was clear all the way to the VA/WV line. We found only 1 American
Kestrel along this road though.
Other highlights were over 20 Fox Squirrels with their reddish tails
gleaming the sun. I don't remember seeing so many there before. The
Gray Squirrel in the Beverage's Feeder and one Red Squirrel that ran
across the road made for good variety.
We ended the day at Bell's Lane in Augusta County where we saw two
Short-eared Owls cruising the field around 6:10pm.
Cats = 6
Sue
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