Hello all
Yesterday morning after work ( was on call & pulled an all nighter with very
little sleep ) my first stop was in the Swoope area . By then it was light
enough to see & the birds were on the move . My goal for Saturday morning to to
see what species of birds that I could get peak counts on for Augusta County .
With the coolness of the morning the birds were more active but by the time I
reached some of the Northern parts of Augusta County 9 am ish it was starting
to heat up fast & the birds were harder to find . I ended up with about 70
species but the ones that I will report on are the ones with peak counts or
just an interest because of the time of year . The areas I covered were Swoope
, Stuarts Draft Waste water Plant , Quillen's , McCune's , up to Weyers Cave
area & Bells Lane . * P C is Peak Count thru out Augusta County .
Wood Duck -- 16 ( adult with 4 very young on Bells Lane )
Great Blue Heron -- 17 - P C thru out Aug . Co .
Great Egret -- 1 Quillen's
Green Heron -- 19 P C
Spotted Sandpiper -- 2
Solitary -- 2
Least -- 1
Moruring Dove -- 113 P C
Belted Kingfisher -- 9 P C
Willow Flycatcher -- 1 caught this young one trying to sing ( special
interest because of our extreme dates April 24 to July - 31 )
Eastern Kingbird -- 37 -- P C
Purple Martin -- 17 P C
Blue - Gray Gnatcatcher -- 5 family group heading south
Mockingbird -- 51 P C
Brown Thrasher -- 11 PC
Cardinal -- 35 P C
Blue Grosbeak -- 7 P C ( one male carrying food to nest site at Boy Scout
Camp )
House Sparrow -- 79 PC
Not a bad morning of birding but a very tiring one .
Allen Larner
Staunton
