Fourteen Northern Virginia Bird Club members led by Marv Rubin and Elton Morel
went on the annual winter trip to Augusta and Highland counties, March 1-3.
Our weekend's tally of bird species was 56; highlights were Rough-legged Hawk
in Augusta county, and Eastern Screech-Owl and Golden Eagles in Highland
county. Despite three attempts -- two on Saturday afternoon and once again
Sunday morning -- we did not find the Say's Phoebe on Hevener Road.
Allen Larner led us around Augusta county on Friday afternoon. The
Rough-legged Hawk was found easily on the corner of Hall School Road and
Lipscomb Road. We then went to the Swoope area, i.e., Cattleman Road and
Livick Road, looking for Short-eared Owls near dusk. We might have had a
Short-eared Owl, but an intervening Red-tailed Hawk flew in along the same tree
line forcing us to be uncertain as to whether we really had an owl or whether
we were on a second Red-tailed Hawk.
On Saturday, we drove to Highland County with a productive stop at the McDowell
feeders where we found many Pine Siskins, a few Purple Finches and a
Red-breasted Nuthatch. After lunch, we started towards Blue Grass Valley via
Route 220. Stopping at the trout farm, we spotted an amorous Belted Kingfisher
couple on the far side of the pond. While stopping to look at Horned Larks on
Hardscrabble Road just before the junction with Hevener Road, Linda Chittum
spotted an adult Golden Eagle sitting in a tree on the north side of
Hardscrabble Road. We then went to Hevener Road to look for the Say's Phoebe.
Just as we were about to give up at this location, Bev Leeuwenburg drove up
and gave us a tip about the location of a red morph Eastern Screech Owl nearby
(thanks Bev!). Once again, Linda found the owl and we all had good but distant
scope looks of the bird. Other highlights of our afternoon in the Blue Grass
Valley were more Horned Larks
near the feed lot on Laurel Fork Road (642), American Tree Sparrows at the
south end of New Hampden on Route 640 and Purple Finches at the feeders on the
corner of Route 640 and Snyder Lane (639).
On Sunday morning, we started in the Blue Grass Valley again looking for the
Say's Phoebe with no luck. A drive down Route 640 past Hightown into the
southern part of the county looking for raptors seemed very unproductive until
Linda saved the morning by finding a pair of Golden Eagles in a tree on the
corner of Route 640 and Mill Gap Road (84). The pair took flight, circled
around a bit giving us excellent looks at the eagles. A little bit of drama
was added to the show when the eagles were dive-bombed by a passing Red-tailed
Hawk. We all agreed that this was an excellent way to end the weekend's
birding trip.
Elton Morel
Arlington, VA
