Hello all,
my mom and I spent the day birding in Augusta County today on a "Big Day" quest
to see who many species we could see in the county on this day. Starting at
5:50 am and with a total of 15 hours 20 minutes birding and 212 miles by car
and 2.5 by foot it was quite the day.
We started out by owling some this morning but with no such luck. However by
7:00 am we had 21 species logged, mostly common birds though. Our first main
stop was Badger Road where we found 1 of the Red-headed Woodpeckers. At
Natural Chimneys we had a Winter Wren and Pine Warbler.
In the Swoope area we saw 2 Northern Harriers along Glebe School Road, and the
highlight of the day: 2 Loggerhead Shrikes along Cattleman Road. A big thank
you to Allen Larner for showing them to us. At Augusta Springs Wetlands we
added Yellow-rumped Warbler and Golden-crowned Kinglet.
Along Bells Lane we added Bufflehead (2), Horned Grebe (1), and American Coot
(3) to our day list.
Along Sangers Lane we had an FOS Barn Swallow and 21 GBH at the heron rookery.
At McCune's we added Northern Shoveler (3) and Hooded Merganser (1) to our day
list.
Out at Guthrie Road we had 10 Horned Larks and 1 Purple Martin, both new day
birds. Despite 30 minutes spent at Brenneman Lane there was no Lark Sparrow to
be found. In fact the bird activity was the quietest I'd ever seen it there.
Just a few grackles, 1 Song Sparrow, and 1 Field Sparrow.
In the Waynesboro area we found Yellow-bellied Sapsucker and Brown Creeper at
Ridgeview Park at 2 Black-crowned Night Herons at InVista Ponds. We were at 69
species and were trying to close in on 70 and we had a few birds that were
eluding us. We finally managed Belted Kingfisher #70 at Constitution Park.
We went up to Humpback Rocks at dusk for woodcocks. While there were only 4
American Woodcocks displaying quite the show it was! At most times there were
2 birds in the air, once or twice there were 3. At one point before it was too
dark there was a woodcock peenting on the ground in easy view about 30 feet
from me! At one time while I was following a woodcock rising up in the air in
my binoculars it crossed paths with a woodcock descending.
While at home, a Great Horned Owl called from the woods where I've previously
seen one on a nest, perhaps that exact bird. That finished out this full Big
Day with 72 species.
The complete list including several species with numbers (species that I
thought had unusually high counts)
Good birding,
Gabriel Mapel
New Hope, Va
Canada Goose
Wood Duck 18
Mallard
Northern Shoveler
Green-winged Teal
Bufflehead
Hooded Merganser
Horned Grebe 2
Great Blue Heron 25
Black-crowned Night Heron
Black Vulture 12
Turkey Vulture
Northern Harrier
Red-shouldered Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
American Kestrel 7
American Coot
Killdeer
American Woodcock 4
Rock Pigeon
Mourning Dove
Belted Kingfisher
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Red-headed Woodpecker
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
Downy Woodpecker
Hairy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker 11
Pileated Woodpecker 5
Eastern Phoebe
Blue Jay
American Crow
Fish Crow
Common Raven 4
Horned Lark
Northern Rough-winged Swallow
Purple Martin 3
Tree Swallow
Barn Swallow
Rufous Hummingbird **special note: this is the continuing bird previously
banded and identified by Mr. Bruce Peterjohn at a private residence near
Staunton Virginia. I was able to see this bird due to permission by the home
owner**
Carolina Chickadee
Tufted Titmouse
White-breasted Nuthatch
Brown Creeper
Carolina Wren
Winter Wren
Golden-crowned Kinglet
Eastern Bluebird
American Robin
Loggerhead Shrike 2
Northern Mockingbird
Brown Thrasher 3
European Starling
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Pine Warbler
Eastern Towhee
Chipping Sparrow
Field Sparrow
Savannah Sparrow
Song Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow
White-crowned Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco
Northern Cardinal
Red-winged Blackbird
Eastern Meadowlark
Common Grackle
Brown-headed Cowbird
House Finch
American Goldfinch
House Sparrow
