VA BIRDers,
Dave Boltz, Rich Rieger and I went west this morning. We drove through the
Rectorstown area to Carr Rd to Sky Meadows first. Highlight were 4 Eastern
Phoebes, an overlying American Pipit, a few Chipping Sparrows, 5 Red-headed
WPs and some Common Ravens. Our brief visit to Sky Meadows was along the
Bridle Trail entrance stretch which offered up two American Tree Sparrows
plus a Northern Harrier, a dozen Savannah Sparrows, some White-crowned
Sparrows, plus more pipits and a dozen Eastern Meadowlark.
We made the pilgrimage to Blandy Farms, spotting the Loggerhead Shrike
(thanks to James Fox for local directions) and noted a yellow Palm Warbler
along the way; the nearby wetlands held about 25 Rusty Blackbirds and the
feeder yielded up Red-breasted Nuthatches and Pine Siskins - two Winter
Wrens were in the woods bordering Blandy to the west.
We drove to Snickers Gap - along the way spotting 12 Wild Turkeys along the
Shenandoah R - Bob and Joan at the hawk watch regaled us on yesterday's
crossbills (although not present during our visit). Heading east, we
stopped at nearby Skeeter Lake (?) and found a few ducks including 2 Wood
Ducks, 12 Am. Black Ducks, 12 Mallards, 78 Ring-necked Ducks, 4 Ruddy Ducks
and 2 Pied-billed Grebes. The Cedar Waxwing total was burgeoning as
additions pushed our total to 200. We continued east to Beaverdam Reservoir
and found a Common Loon plus 7 Ring-billed Gulls and a Pied-billed Grebe.
No Brown Thrasher today, but this is an uncommon to rare species this time
of year on the northern piedmont and ridge and valley regions. The sun was
going down and we headed home with 69 species under our belts.
Kurt Gaskill
