VA Birders,
The 16 members of our Northern Virginia Bird Club who took part in our
winter weekend in Augusta and Highland Cos. enjoyed the best weather I can
remember for this trip. We spent Friday night in Staunton, and had an optional
trip in the Staunton/Augusta Co. area on Friday afternoon. Many thanks to
Allen
Larner, who took us out to Bell's Lane and helped us find our only ducks and
Northern Harriers of the trip in the ponds and fields there, as well as 3
Short-eared Owls at dusk, which were our only owls for the weekend. After a
pleasant afternoon, we enjoyed our annual group dinner at Mrs. Rowe's
Restaurant,
across the parking lot from our motel, the Best Western Staunton Inn.
On Saturday morning, we headed for Highland Co. (One lane of U.S. Rt.
250, just before the Confederate Breastworks at the top of the mountain, which
is also the Augusta-Highland Co. line, appears to have been washed away, so
that traffic alternates using the remaining lane.) After a brief stop at the
breastworks, which provides a scenic overlook and has fairly primitive, but
decent, restrooms, we headed for the feeders in the hamlet of McDowell, our
first
stop in Highland Co. There we found up to 50 Pine Siskins, and probably even
more Am. Goldfinches. The best views of these birds were at the first feeders
on the right, across from the manse for the Presbyterian Church. A short
distance up the road, a yellow house on the left, just past the post office,
has
more feeders, and there we found our only Purple Finch of the trip, a beautiful
male, along with more siskins and goldfinches.
From McDowell, we drove to Monterey, unloaded our gear at the Highland
Inn, where we stayed Saturday night, formed carpools (with a 2-way radio in
each
car), and headed for the Blue Grass Valley, in the northern part of the
county. We missed the Golden Eagle at Snowy Mountain on Saturday morning, but
we
had good views of one on Sunday morning as it soared over the ridgeline. We
think our Golden Eagle may have been an adult, because we did not see a white
band in its tail, which immature birds should have. (In good weather, it is
best to go to Snowy Mountain, on Rt. 644, by 9:30 or 10:00 am.)
We found 3 Rough-legged Hawks on Saturday, 2 light-morph birds in the
Blue Grass Valley, and a stunning dark morph bird that afternoon along Rt. 604
in
the southern part of the county, where we went to look for Loggerhead
Shrikes, which had been found there last summer. (We did not find any shrikes
on
this trip.) At a cattle feedlot pond in the Blue Grass area, we also had
excellent looks at a Common Snipe, thanks to the Richmond Audubon birders who
had
found it and pointed it out to us. We found 2 Black-capped Chickadees on
Saturday, including one at a feeder across the street from the general store in
the
town of Blue Grass, where we got sandwiches for lunch. We also had good views
of many Common Ravens in Highland Co. on both Saturday and Sunday.
Finally, on Sunday morning, we had a group of about 8 Wild Turkeys fly
across U.S. Rt. 220 in front of us in the southern part of the county. On the
way home Sunday afternoon, Marv & Mary Kaye Rubin found a Gray Catbird eating
suet at a feeder in McDowell.
Val Kitchens
Arlington, VA
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