[va-bird] NVBC Augusta & Highland Co. Weekend, Feb. 22-24, 2002

Hello,

    The Northern Virginia Bird Club (NVBC) had its best winter trip ever to 
Augusta and Highland Counties this past weekend.  Not only did we find all of 
our major target birds, but the weather was gorgeous!  The 10 NVBC members 
who joined the trip found a total of 48 species for the weekend.

    We began our trip with a couple of hours of optional afternoon birding in 
the Staunton area of Augusta County on Friday afternoon.  Then we had a group 
dinner at Mrs. Rowe's, one of our favorite restaurants, and spent the night 
in Staunton before heading to Highland County on Saturday morning.  Our best 
birds in Augusta County were White-crowned Sparrows on Bell's Lane and 2 
Short-eared Owls in a field behind a nearby industrial park.

    Saturday morning we headed to Highland County, and after our first stop 
at the Confederate Breastworks on the Augusta-Highland Co. line, where we 
found our first of many Common Ravens of the trip, we headed to McDowell.  We 
arrived there just after 9:00 am, and within a few minutes we found the large 
flock of Evening Grosbeaks, including at least 2 males, at the feeders by the 
yellow house which is located on the left side of the street when you are 
headed toward Monterey.  This house is the second house west of the post 
office.  We found our first Black-capped Chickadees of the trip at another 
house with feeders in McDowell.  This house is located on the right side of 
the road before you reach the post office.

    From McDowell, we went south on Rt. 678 to the Clover Creek area, where 
we found the Purple Finches (at least a dozen males were beautiful in the 
morning light) at the feeders described in a previous report.  The feeders 
are located in the yard of the first house on the left after you pass the 
Clover Creek Presbyterian Church (on the right), about 6-7 miles south of 
McDowell.  We also found American Tree Sparrows at the same feeders.  On the 
way there, we found an adult Bald Eagle on the ground, apparently eating 
carrion.  An adult Golden Eagle flew over our heads while we were watching 
the feeders at Clover Creek.

    From Clover Creek, we returned to McDowell and then continued west to 
Monterey, where we made a brief stop and consolidated cars at the Highland 
Inn.  Then we headed up to Blue Grass.  On Rt 644 we met Bob Anderson, 
Mitchell Byrd, and their party.  Shortly after passing them, we found a 
Loggerhead Shrike on the wires, thanks to Sonia Santa Anna, who heard and 
then spotted it, and we had great looks at it.  Fortunately, Bob, Mitchell, & 
Co. soon joined us and also saw this bird.  At the top of the mountain, we 
found an immature Golden Eagle, which flew thru the ravine below us being 
chased by a Red-tailed Hawk.  After we came down off the mountain, another 
immature Golden Eagle flew overhead near the intersection of Rts. 644 & 643.  
On the way back to Blue Grass, we found a Horned Lark very close to the road, 
which stayed for all of our group to admire.  Then we headed to Blue Grass, 
where we got lunch at the country store (I think it is called Country 
Convenience, and they make good sandwiches).  After lunch we found our first 
Northern Harrier of the trip before calling it a day and heading back to the 
Highland Inn in Monterey, where we had dinner and spent the night.  A few of 
us walked over to the Beverages' feeders in the late afternoon, but found 
them deserted except for a Song Sparrow in a nearby tree.

    Sunday morning, after we had breakfast and scraped the ice off our cars 
(it was a beautiful, sunny morning with no wind, and fortunately it warmed up 
pretty quickly), we headed back to the Blue Grass Valley in search of the 
only target bird we had missed Saturday, Rough-legged Hawk.  We reached Rt. 
642 west of Blue Grass, where the hawk had been reported, just after 9:00 am 
and began searching.  About 9:15 am, a stunning dark-phase Rough-legged Hawk 
flew in and landed in the trees just ahead of us.  We had superb scope views 
of this bird, which had a large white patch on the back of its head.  None of 
the guides showed this patch.  Did anyone else notice it, and is it normal?  
We could not find it in any of the field guides, altho the picture in Bill 
Clark's Hawks guide in the Peterson series seemed to hint at it.  We also 
found an Eastern Meadowlark and a Horned Lark, both singing, and a pair of 
American Kestrels in a dead tree checking out a possible nest hole, as well 
as many newborn lambs and calves in the Blue Grass Valley on Sunday morning.  
Can spring be far behind?

    Finally, we made a quick run down Rt. 220, south of Monterey, where our 
most interesting birds were a pair of Black Ducks, which flew over our heads 
at the Jackson River, near Bolar.  These were the only ducks we saw in 
Highland Co.  We also had good looks at an Eastern Fox Squirrel in a nearby 
tree there before heading back to Monterey, and home. 

    End notes:  We used 2-way radios for the first time on this trip.  We 
only had one pair, so only the first and last cars had them when we had more 
than 2 cars, but they really were a great help; some of us probably would 
have missed some birds without them.  In the future, we plan to have a radio 
for each car when we caravan.  We used the Motorola Talkabouts, which have 
about a 2-mile radius.

    We want to thank Crista Cabe and Allen Larner for their advice on birding 
in Augusta Co. on Friday afternoon.  We also want to thank Gerry Weinberger 
for his  posting about Richmond Audubon's trip to Highland Co. a week ago, 
which alerted us to the feeders at Clover Creek, and the other birders in 
Highland Co. whose information helped us to find the Rough-legged Hawk.

Val Kitchens
Arlington, VA
vbkitchens@xxxxxxx
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