All,
I spent the day birding in Page County today. I haven't birded there
much so I was sort of feeling my way around as I went. I started at Rt.
211 and went north along Skyline Drive to Beahm's Gap which was as far
as I could go and be assured I was still in Page County. I heard the
usual birds along the drive - Hooded Warbler, redstart, ovenbird, black
and white warbler, cerulean warbler, blue-gray gnatcatcher, scarlet
tanager, eastern wood-pewee and of course indigo buntings (I won't
mention them again, they were everywhere as were red-eyed vireos). From
there I went down the mountain towards Luray and took the Jewel Hollow
access road to Lake Arrowhead Road. There weren't any ducks at Lake
Arrowhead but I heard a lot of other stuff along the road including both
orioles, several phoebes, cedar waxwings, eastern meadowlarks, brown
thrashers, tree and rough-winged swallows. I headed into Luray then and
went west on Rt. 211 to Egypt Bend Road which I took north and connected
up with S. Page Valley Road which I took to the end. Best finds along
these roads were Grasshopper Sparrow, Warbling Vireo, Yellow Warbler,
Green Heron, and nesting Cliff Swallows under the Bixlers Ferry Road
bridge over the Shenandoah River.
From there I went into Luray and found at least 5 adult Black-crowned
Night-herons along Hawksbill Creek through the city. I'm sure there
were more but that's all I could see while driving by. I had no idea
there were Black-crowned Night-herons in Luray! Later I found an adult
and a juvenile along Pass Run at the end of Hook Hill Road north of
Luray. I headed south then to Grove Hill River Road which is off of Rt.
340. This road offers the best river views in the county from what I
could tell and it didn't disappoint. Here I picked up bald eagle (a
non-adult bird), a moma wood duck with six half grown young, cooper's
hawk and belted kingfisher (couldn't find a great blue heron to save my
life!). I drove north then along Rt. 340 all the way to Front Royal
looking in vain for an occupied purple martin house. I saw lots of
purple martin houses but none were occupied as far as I could tell. By
then it was 3:00 and time to head home to the ever patient puppy dog
that happily greets me everytime I go through the front door. A
complete list of birds follows.
Sue
Green Heron
Black-crowned Night-heron
Black Vulture
Turkey Vulture
Canada Goose
Wood Duck
Mallard
Bald Eagle
Cooper's Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
American Kestrel
Killdeer
Rock Dove
Mourning Dove
Yellow-billed Cuckoo
Chimney Swift
Belted Kingfisher
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Downy Woodpecker
Hairy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Pileated Woodpecker
Eastern Wood-Pewee
Acadian Flycatcher
Eastern Phoebe
Great Crested Flycatcher
Eastern Kingbird
Warbling Vireo
Red-eyed Vireo
Blue Jay
American Crow
Common Raven
Tree Swallow
Northern Rough-winged Swallow
Cliff Swallow
Barn Swallow
Carolina Chickadee
Tufted Titmouse
White-breasted Nuthatch
Carolina Wren
House Wren
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
Eastern Bluebird
Wood Thrush
American Robin
Gray Catbird
Northern Mockingbird
Brown Thrasher
European Starling
Cedar Waxwing
Yellow Warbler
Pine Warbler
Prairie Warbler
Cerulean Warbler
Black-and-white Warbler
American Redstart
Ovenbird
Louisiana Waterthrush
Hooded Warbler
Scarlet Tanager
Eastern Towhee
Chipping Sparrow
Field Sparrow
Grasshopper Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Northern Cardinal
Indigo Bunting
Red-winged Blackbird
Eastern Meadowlark
Common Grackle
Brown-headed Cowbird
Orchard Oriole
Baltimore Oriole
House Finch
American Goldfinch
House Sparrow
--
Susan A. Heath
George Mason University
Environmental Science Department
Fairfax, VA
Secretary, Virginia Avian Records Committee
Keeper, Virginia Comp List at www.virginiabirding.org
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