Friday, Jan 30 -- Nancy and I did some scouting in preparation for the
following day's field trip for the Monticello and Bath/Highland Bird Clubs.
Near Headwaters on 616 we got several bluebirds, the expected juncos and
doves as well as one Hermit Thrush, not a common winter bird out here. The
bird feeders in the side yard along US 250 (right side) in McDowell were
host to at least 70 goldfinches, 8-10 Pine Siskins, 3 Purple Finches, a few
White-Throated Sparrows and 1 Fox Sparrow that sneaked back and forth
between a stand of lilac bushes and the scattered seed below the hanging
feeders. Also, one seemingly out of place Yellow-rumped Warbler! At the
Beverage's feeders in Monterey there were several American Tree Sparrows, a
few more siskins, House Finches, Red-breasted and White-breasted Nuthatches;
Hairy, Downy and Red-bellied Woodpeckers, a Black-capped Chickadee and
dozens of juncos, goldfinches, starlings and House Sparrows. The typical
winter haunts of birders in the Snowy Mountain & Blue Grass region (routes
640, 642, 643, 644) produced 5 Rough-legged Hawks (3 light & 2 dark phase),
an equal number of "Red-tails," 3 kestrels, 1 American Pipit, 80 Horned
Larks, 8 Wilson Snipe, 6 Meadowlarks, 2 American Tree Sparrows, 1 Great Blue
Heron and the expected stuff like doves, juncos, crows, ravens.
Saturday, Jan 31, 8:30 am -- 10 intrepid birders from the aforementioned
bird clubs (plus two Augusta County interlopers) set forth on a birding
circuit in 6 degree temperatures and a clear sky. The sky remained clear
throughout the day and the temperature eventually shot up to 16 degrees as
we retraced much of the route from yesterday. We found most of the same
species including several Rough-legged Hawks, which proved to be life birds
for some participants as did the American Tree Sparrows and Wilson's Snipe.
On route 642 Cricket Barlow spotted 1 distant long-winged raptor that was
eventually identified as an immature Golden Eagle. Shortly after this
sighting we crossed paths with David Hughes and members of the Cape Henry
Audubon Society. They had seen even more Rough-legged Hawks than we at that
point and also had a few additional distant Golden Eagles.
After a classic lunch at High's restaurant only half of our troops remained,
and we decided to visit some areas south of US 250. We found 2 more
Rough-legged Hawks near Meadowdale and heard one Killdeer. On 604 south of
Mill Gap, Cricket Barlow spotted a shrike in a roadside bramble. The bird
promptly flew into the thickest part of a hawthorn tree where it could not
be seen but was heard calling repeatedly. Within a few minutes it fluttered
towards us and perched within great viewing distance. Of note is that this
bird was less than 1/4 mile from the nesting pair discovered last June (by
Jo King) during the Breeding Bird Foray. Returning towards Hightown on US
84 Cricket spotted 2 immature Bald Eagles.
Rough-legged Hawks seem to be more numerous than usual this year. When we
met David Hughes he said that they had seen at least 9; we had 2 at this
juncture, coming from a different direction. That makes at least 11 north
of US 250. Adding the 2 we saw south of 250 that totals 13. The previous
Highland County high count for this species was 6 in December 1997. I
suspect there are upwards of 20 in northern Highland County.
American Tree Sparrows seemed unusually prevalent. I counted 7 on Saturday
and 5 on Friday. In fact, next to juncos this was the most common sparrow
that we saw. White-throated, White-crowned and Song Sparrows were fewer and
sparsely distributed.
Sadly, no redpolls, Evening Grosbeaks, or crossbills for us. I'm anxious to
hear what else the Cape Henry Audubon group got. Crista Cabe and Lisa
Hamilton will be leading a trip to Highland County on February 7th for the
Augusta and Bath/Highland Bird Clubs. May they find all that we did and
even more.
Thanks to the following participants and bird spotters: Pat Adams, Frank
Pound, Rick and Susie Webb and daughter, Nancy O'Brian, Francis Fife, Dan
Perkuchian, George "Cricket" Barlow, Mary Vermeulen, Malissa Druff, Nancy
Spahr.
John Spahr
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.
