[bcbirdclub] Birding Buchanan County

From: "Roger Mayhorn" <mayhorn@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: "BCBC Listserve" <bcbirdclub@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Sun, 16 Mar 2008 21:11:42 -0400
Hi All,
Today Don Carrier and I, Roger Mayhorn, birded a section of the Dismal River 
near Jewel Valley, my place on Compton Mt and the Mountain Top Golf Course also 
here on Compton Mt. David Raines joined us for the last part of the day.

The morning started off with Fox Sparrows and a Rusty Blackbird at our place. I 
received a phone call not long after Don arrived. It was a neighbor lady a 
couple of miles on around Compton Mt. She said there was a large, partly white 
bird in her driveway. We went immediately to check it out. Upon arrival we 
found in the early morning fog a Ring-billed Gull, an uncommon visitor to 
Buchanan County. Later another Ring-bill joined the first.

We then drove a few miles to the east of Compton Mt to bird along the Dismal 
River. There we found our FOS Blue-headed Vireo establishing a new early date 
for that species. Previously the early date had been March 20th.

Later in the day David Raines found a female Ring-necked Duck on a farm pond 
here on the mountain. This is the first record we have for this species in the 
county. They are often seen on Laurel Lake of the Breaks Park, but that lake is 
in Dickenson County.

We finished the day with 41 species. Aside from the vireo, and the Ring-necked 
Duck other notable species were a Rusty Blackbird, a Vesper Sparrow, which was 
one of 5 sparrow species found - Field, Fox (9 at my house), Song, Swamp and 
Vesper, a Common Raven, a Pine Siskin, 2 Purple Finches, 3 Eastern Meadowlarks 
- a species getting hard to find in the area and 17 Wild Turkeys.

Following is the day's list and photos of the Ring-bill and the Vesper Sparrow.

Roger Mayhorn
Compton Mt





41 Species
American Crow 23

American Goldfinch 15

American Robin 32

Blue-headed Vireo 1 (N 37 14 03  W 81 49 31) ( Early Date for this species)

Blue Jay 1

Brown-headed Cowbird 5

Carolina Chickadee 3

Carolina Wren 4

Common Grackle 2

Common Raven 1

Dark-eyed Junco 12

Downy Woodpecker 4

Eastern Phoebe 2

Eastern Meadowlark 3

Eastern Towhee 1m

European Starling 8

Field Sparrow 13

Fox Sparrow 12

Golden-crowned Kinglet 9

House Finch 12

House Sparrow 5

Mourning Dove 26

Northern Cardinal 25

Northern Flicker 6

Pileated Woodpecker 2

Pine Siskin 1

Purple Finch 3 (1m, 1f)

Red-bellied Woodpecker 2

Red-tailed Hawk 4 (2 on Mountain Top Golf Course on Compton Mt)

Red-winged Blackbird 20

Ring-billed Gull 2
Ring-necked Duck 1f (on farm Pond on Compton Mt)

Rusty Blackbird 1m (breeding plumage)
Song Sparrow 10

Swamp Sparrow 1

Tufted Titmouse 6

Turkey Vulture 2

Vesper Sparrow 1

White-breasted Nuthatch 5

White-throated Sparrow 1

Wild Turkey 17
[bcbirdclub] Birding Buchanan County

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