18 birders, including the 3 leaders, started the day at the feeders in
McDowell, where we found one FM Evening Grosbeak at a thistle feeder two
houses from the P.O. on rt.250 on the same side of the street. The feeders on
the right side of the street (as you head to Monterey) two houses from the
bridge were mostly empty and unproductive Sat. or today. Today, as we headed
back towards Richmond we found 20-25 Grosbeaks in a large tree behind and
slightly to the right of the P.O. (as you face it) - only 2 were males.
On Sat. too we went to the feeders on Rt.678 (towards Williamsville) in an
area called Clover Creek - noteworthy were between 15-20 Purple Finches
there. We then returned to Monterey and picked up the rest of our group and
headed for the Blue Grass Valley By the way, the Beverages feeders on both
days were filled but there were virtually no birds there.
We had superb looks of 3 Rough-legged Hawks on Rt.640 S. of the town of Blue
Grass - one Light-phase and 2 Dark-phase. We also saw at least 4 Goldren
Eagles (3 Adults, 1 immature) all on Rt. 644 West of Snowy Mntn (we had none
on Rt.640 heading towards the O'Bryan place and the State line). We also saw
3 Bald Eagles, 3 Kestrels, 2 Sharp-shinned Hawks, 1 Harrier, and at least 6
Red-Tails. There were many Ravens cavorting about, and many Black-Capped
Chickadees at feeders.
All in all the group totalled 46 species - this includes brief dips into Bath
Co. for a small variety of water-fowl. The big miss was Loggerhead Shrike -
we made 4 trips on Rt.644 where it has been previously seen - not a glimpse
this time.
The trip ended this am - we awoke to about 1/2 inch of snow and blustery
winds and snow squalls, but once we started back and cleared the first
mountain there was no more snow. Needless to say we saw NO Red Crossbills on
Shenandoah Mntn. either coming or going.
Gerry Weinberger
Doswell
You are subscribed to VA-BIRD. To post to this mailing list, simply send email
to va-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx. To unsubscribe, send email to
va-bird-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with 'unsubscribe' in the Subject field.
