Hi all,
This morning my dad and I headed out to try and relocate the Virginia Rails
heard by William Leigh and others at Nazarene Church Rd Wetlands in Rockingham
County yesterday.
On our way we stopped at a couple water bodies in Rockingham. The pond off of
Oakwood Dr had 4 Solitary & 1 Spotted Sandpipers along the edges. At Silver
Lake there was a fishing Osprey.
When we arrived at Nazarene Wetlands I waited around in the rain and after 5
minutes 1 Virginia Rail called out giving calls like those recorded by William
yesterday. I waited a little while longer but the second Rail never called. I
also tried for Sora and failed.
When I arrived back home at my New Hope area residence in Augusta County as
soon as I got out of the car I heard a "too too too" and looked up to find a
Greater Yellowlegs flying over! 5 minutes later a Cooper's Hawk flew by and
then 5 minutes after that I caught site of a large bird flying to the
southeast. It was a Herring Gull, a new yard bird!
The highlight of the day was seen from my yard about 5 minutes after the
Herring Gull. I was looking off to the east of my house and about .5 mile
away, approximately the same distance as the earlier Cooper's Hawk, I spotted a
LARGE accipiter. I got it in my scope and the combination of proportionally
small head, thick wings and tail, overall dark brown plumage, and very powerful
direct flight identified an immature Northern Goshawk!
I stayed outside about 30 more minutes after the Goshawk to see if any more
interesting birds flew over but my luck had run out. It was definitely a very
active day here in the Shenandoah Valley. Good Birding,
Gabriel Mapel
New Hope, VA
PS. I have a few poor but probably ID-worthy photos of the Herring Gull that I
can send to anyone interested. My photos of the Goshawk don't show anything
more than a blob and they are not ID-worthy, unfortunately.
