Hello all
This morning I took John Fox to some of the birding "hot spots " in Augusta
County . First stop was out in the Swoope area in & around Smith's Pond . No
moorhen was found but we did see a few shorebirds -- Killdeer , 3 Solitary
Sandpiper & 1 Spotted . Also there were 3 Great Blue Heron & a few Wood Duck .
One had some young that were about 2 weeks old . Barn Swallows were in good
numbers with about 75 + birds & about 5 + Cliff Swallows mixed in Also we
spotted the male Northern Harrier. On Rt. 705 we found a Blue Grosbeak & a lot
of Red -winged Blackbirds & 3 Am. Kestrel. While trying to locate the Blue
Grosbeak we heard a Black-- billed Cuckoo cal out & we did find a Yellow
--billed Cuckoo in the same tree as the Grosbeak .
After the Swoope area we went over to the Walnut Hills Camp Ground to see the
Barnacle Goose . I wanted to check out to see if this bird had been injuried &
the bird walks with a slight limp . Also we found what at first I thought was a
Louisiana Waterthrush & after viewing most all of my field guides it turns out
this bird was a Northern Waterthrush . All of my books show a yellowish wash
which this bird had . Sorry John . This bird makes a first summer record for
Augusta County . So onward we go to Quillen's where we had nothing to report .
Onward we traveled north to see the Dickcissel in the New Hope area at first we
bombed out but on the way back from Leonard's Pond in Rockingham County -- we
found the bird about a half a mile south of Rt. 776 on Rt. 608 .
Leonard's Pond had a few Shorebirds & they were Killdeer -- 50 + , Solitary --
4 , Spotted -- 1 , Pectoral -- 1 & Least -- 1. Our final stop was Bells Lane
where we had the usual summer birds but the big find was an Imm. Peregrine
Falcon . Which will make our first summer record . All in all it turned out to
be a good day for birding . John it was a pleasure to show you around our
County.
Allen Larner
Staunton
