A friend and I walked the one mile loop trail west of Gap Run at Sky
Meadows State Park. The Eagle Scouts and leaders working on building a
bridge across Gap Run were most kind in offering help across the
construction area and stream. A pervasive odor of rotten fish appeared
to have been caused from the draining of a pond and urged us not to
linger on the downwind side.
We Saw Eastern Wood-Pewees, Common Yellowthroats, Cardinals, Blue
Jays, Robins, Ruby-crowned Kinglets, a Yellow-breasted Chat, Catbirds,
Mockingbirds, an immature Indigo Bunting, Downy Woodpeckers, Northern
Flickers, a Red-headed Woodpecker, Red-bellied Woodpeckers, Cedar
Waxwings, a Bald Eagle, a Great Blue Heron, a Broad-winged Hawk,
Red-winged Blackbirds, European Starlings, Rock Doves, Mourning Doves,
an Ovenbird, House Finches, Goldfinches, Carolina Chickadees, Tufted
Titmice, Carolina Wrens, Turkey Vultures and House Sparrows. We heard
Pileated Woodpeckers and Eastern Towhees. And to quote another person
more poetic than I, "No stinking Shrikes!"
Throughout the rest of the day we saw several perched Red-tailed Hawks
and one that glided right across the windshield to catch a thermal at
an overlook on Skyline Drive. We saw several Common Ravens including
one carrying something spiky in its beak and a pair nuzzling and
preening in the top of a tree below an overlook. The daylight hours
ended with a beautiful Northern Harrier fighting the wind, coursing
low over the meadow at Big Meadows.
Lee Loudenslager Adams
Fredericksburg, VA
ladams42@xxxxxxx
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