Hello all,
While some of you might have had the common sense to linger over a cup of
hot coffee in the warmth of your home this morning, two of us, myself and
Allen Larner decided to go ahead with the scheduled field trip. However,
we decided to start in Swoope and check out the ponds and fields and go
from there depending on the weather. We did drive out to Augusta Springs
but the rain picked up and neither of us fancied a walk around the board
walk for what would be, most likely, the same species.
All of that being said, we ended up with 39 species as follows and I have
noted with some species an approximate location of the birds..
2 Canada Goose
4 Black Duck ... on one small pond on the way to the Boy Scout Camp and at
the Camp itself
35 Mallard
27 Green-winged Teal (Smith's Pond)
1 Pied-bill Grebe (Boy Scout)
1 Horned Grebe (Smith's)
2 Double-crested Cormorants (Smith's)
1 Great Blue (Boy Scout)
1 No. Harrier (near Trimbles Road)
3 Bald Eagle (near Trimbles Road)
1 Red-tailed Hawk
2 Killdeer
1 Kingfisher
3 Red-bellied
7 Downy
1 Northern Flicker
1 American Kestrel
4 Blue Jay
13 American Crow
1 Common Raven
6 Carolina Chickadee
11 Tufted Titmouse
3 Carolina Wren
2 Ruby-crowned Kinglet (Boy Scout)
1 Bluebird
3 Mockingbird
35 Starlings
1 Yellow-rumped
1 Field Sparrow
51 Junco
8 White-crowned
29 White-throated
2 Savannah Sparrow (Trimbles Road)
1 Swamp Sparrow (Boy Scout)
18 Cardinal
3 Grackle
3 House Finch
3 House Sparrow
Also, Allen saw two groups of turkeys at the usual spot on WW Parkway
before we met on W. Beverley.
A fun morning chasing birds in the rain!
Penny Warren
Staunton, VA
