VA Birders,
The 12 members of the Northern Virginia Bird Club (NVBC) who took part in
our winter trip to Highland Co. tallied over 50 species of birds. As is our
custom on this trip, we spent Friday night in Staunton and then went on to
Highland Co. on Saturday morning. Many thanks to Allen Larner, who took us out
on Friday afternoon in Staunton and found us 6 Cackling Geese in a flock of
Canada Geese, as well as the nice variety of waterfowl which he reported on
VA-Bird. The Cackling Geese, which were the Richardson's subspecies, were in 2
groups of 3 each in the larger flock of Canadas. The nearer group was feeding
in
front of a Canada Goose, which looked like a monster goose standing behind
them; the Cackling Geese not only were much smaller, but they had small, dainty
bills compared to the much larger bill of the Canada Goose. We stayed at the
very pleasant Best Western Staunton Inn on Friday night and enjoyed dinner at
Mrs. Rowe's Restaurant, which is conveniently located across the parking lot.
On Saturday morning, we headed for Highland Co., where we made our first
stop in McDowell, so we could check the feeders there. We found our only
Purple Finches of the trip as well as a Fox Sparrow there. Then on to
Monterey,
where we checked in at the Highland Inn before proceeding up to the Blue Grass
Valley to look for Golden Eagles. After a short wait, we had good views of an
immature Golden Eagle which flew right over us up on Snowy Mountain.
Saturday afternoon, we saw another Golden Eagle and a Bald Eagle in the
southern part
of the county, as well as a flock of 20 Wild Turkeys and 5 or 6 Hooded
Mergansers. Special thanks goes to Pat Blyer, who spotted both the first
Golden
Eagle and the Wild Turkeys.
Altho one car saw a Rough-legged Hawk on Saturday, we searched in vain on
Sunday morning for this hawk. Sunday morning's highlight was the 3 or 4
Horned Larks which flew in and gave us excellent close-up views in the Blue
Grass
Valley. Common Ravens were in good supply this year, as we saw them just
about everywhere we went in Highland Co. on both days.
As noted above, we stayed at the Highland Inn Saturday, and we enjoyed
dinner there Saturday night. We had a wonderful lunch Saturday at the new
Stone
Hearth Restaurant in Monterey, which has previously received good reviews on
VA-Bird. The Stone Hearth is not open on Sundays now, but we were told it
will be in spring and summer. This restaurant is located about a block up the
street (west) from the Highland Inn on Rt. 250, next to an old log cabin.
Val Kitchens
Arlington, VA
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