Sorry for the late posting.
Yesterday morning 11 people joined the Loudoun Wildlife Conservancy on a short
walk on the Appalachian Trail in Clarke Co about 6 miles south of Snickers Gap.
Afterwards the group stopped by the Snickers Gap Hawkwatch and got to watch a
fair number of hawks. The walk took place on a section of the AT that starts
at Morgan Mill Rd, Rte 605, in Clarke Co, and goes north a little ways to a
small waterfall. While the walk was not overly birdy for the most part, it is
a very pretty area and includes a couple of dif. ecosystems and their
accompanying vegetation in a relatively small area. The group did find a mixed
group of birds, including several dif. warblers - NORTHERN PARULA,
BLACK-THROATED BLUE, BLACK-THROATED GREEN, BLACK-AND-WHITE, AMERICAN REDSTART -
and both adult & juvenile CEDAR WAXWINGS and SCARLET TANAGERS, when we were
almost finished with the walk. While driving down Morgan Mill Rd to the AT a
WILD TURKEY and a BROWN THRASHER were seen.
An early RED-BREASTED NUTHATCH was observed on the way back to the hawkwatch.
And a nice variety of hawks, mostly Broad-winged Hawks, streamed by in the
short time the group spent at the hawkwatch.
Birds seen on the AT and later at the Hawkwatch:
Turkey Vulture
Black Vulture
Osprey
Bald Eagle
Northern Harrier
Sharp-shinned Hawk
Cooper's Hawk
Broad-winged Hawk
Red-shouldered Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
American Kestrel
Wild Turkey
Mourning Dove
Chimney Swift
Ruby-throated Hummingbird
Red-headed WP
Red-bellied WP
Downy WP
Hairy WP
Northern Flicker
Pileated WP
Eastern Wood-pewee
empidonax flycatcher
Red-eyed Vireo
Blue Jay
American Crow
Tree Swallow
Carolina Chickadee
Tufted Titmouse
White-breasted Nuthatch
Red-breasted Nuthatch
Carolina Wren
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
Eastern Bluebird
Northern Mockingbird
Brown Thrasher
Cedar Waxwing
Northern Parula
Black-throated Blue Warbler
Black-throated Green warbler
Black-and-White Warbler
American Redstart
Scarlet Tanager
Northern Cardinal
American Goldfinch
Compiled by Laura Weidner & Liam McGranaghan, reported by Joe Coleman
near Bluemont, Lo Co
