VA Birders,
I tried to send this last night, but I'm not sure it went thru, so I'm
trying again. I also realized I forgot to list our bird highlights at the
beginning. They include: Bald Eagle, Rough-legged Hawk, Golden Eagle, Wild
Turkey, Common Raven, Horned Lark, Black-capped Chickadee, Am. Tree Sparrow,
and Lapland Longspur.
Our Northern Virginia Bird Club (NVBC) winter trip to Highland Co. was
scheduled for this past weekend (Feb. 21-23). After watching changing
weather forecasts for several days, I polled our group on Thursday (we had a
full trip with 16 people), and the vote was unanimous: let's go! We were
all beginning to suffer from cabin fever, and we were ready for the adventure
of winter birding in Highland Co. It was a great adventure and we had great
birds, especially considering the rain, fog, snow showers, and blowing snow
at various times during our trip. I should mention that before leaving, we
learned that even tho Highland Co. had 2 feet of snow, all the roads had been
plowed and the children returned to school there on Thursday.
We met in Staunton, where Allen Larner very kindly agreed to take us out
for a little birding in the Stuarts Draft area of Augusta Co. on Friday
afternoon. We saw our first flock of Horned Larks in the snow there, as well
as our only Am. Kestrel and White-crowned Sparrows of the weekend. We had
light rain and some fog Friday afternoon, but fortunately the fog didn't
really set in until we went back to our motel. We spent Friday night at the
Best Western Staunton Inn, and had a group dinner at Mrs. Rowe's, a favorite
country dining restaurant next door.
On Saturday morning, we drove to Highland Co. in mostly light rain, with
a little fog along the way, but conditions improved somewhat during the day.
We stopped and checked the feeders at McDowell, but the only finches we saw
were Am. Goldfinches, and we didn't see much else there. We decided to go on
to Monterey from there, and after checking in and leaving our luggage at the
Highland Inn, we formed carpools, put a 2-way radio in each of our 4 cars,
and headed for Blue Grass. When we reached Rt. 644, we found that it had
been plowed and we were able to drive all the way up to Snowy Mountain. At
the spot where we have had a Loggerhead Shrike in the past, I spotted a
large, dark raptor perched in a tree. I told everyone on our radios, and as
we all got out of our cars, the bird flew. It was an immature Golden Eagle,
with the white band in its tail clearly visible. Best of all, it didn't fly
away, it flew toward us! It circled around several times so that we all got
fabulous looks at it. We also saw Red-tailed Hawks, a few Common Ravens, and
lots of Horned Larks along the edges of the roads and even out in the roads.
After lunch, we decided to head south on Rt. 220. We saw a lot of birds
along the edge of the road, mostly Dark-eyed Juncos at first, but then we
found a group which included Am. Tree, Field, and White-throated Sparrows.
Between Rt. 84 and Bolar, we spotted 3 Wild Turkeys along the Jackson River
which, like the Potomac River up in Blue Grass, was a raging mini-torrent,
but fortunately still in its banks. The turkeys flew across the road, and
then we spotted a Bald Eagle perched at the top of a nearby tree. While we
were watching it, the turkeys flew back across the road, but this time there
were 25-30 of them--they just kept coming! It was an amazing sight. We also
checked other roads in the southern part of the county, but didn't find much.
We returned to the inn and celebrated our luck with a group dinner at the
Highland Inn.
Sunday morning, it was cold and windy, with snow showers and some blowing
snow, but we decided to go back to the Blue Grass area after checking the
Beverages' feeders, where once again the only finches we found were
goldfinches. Our target bird was Rough-legged Hawk. We found a light morph
bird perched in a tree on Rt. 643. It flew before everyone could get a scope
view, but we all got good looks at it in flight. Part of the group also saw
a second, dark morph, Rough-legged Hawk a little later, flying along the
valley on Rt. 640, going toward Hightown.
Altho we had seen our 2 main target birds, the Golden Eagle and
Rough-legged Hawk, our best bird of the trip was saved for last. On Rt. 642,
I stopped to scan the flock of Horned Larks at the feedlot with the pond on
the right side of the road, and all of a sudden I realized that I was looking
at one with a black patch on its breast. Then I saw its chestnut nape, black
streaking on its back, and the head pattern which identified it as a Lapland
Longspur!!! We were too close to get out of our cars without spooking the
birds, but thanks to our 2-way radios, I was able to alert everyone to the
longspur and tell them where it was. When it moved, someone else spotted it
and reported its location until everyone in the group had excellent looks at
it. At one point, it perched up on the fence wires next to a Horned Lark!
After looking at several field guides, I am convinced that it was beginning
to come into breeding plumage; it was a really stunning bird, and a wonderful
finale to our trip.
As a postscript, some of us found Black-capped Chickadees at the feeders
in McDowell on our way home; most of us had not seen them on the way in and
we didn't find any at the Beverages' feeders.
Good birding,
Val Kitchens
Arlington, VA
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