We visited our second home in the upper Cedar Creek Valley this past
weekend for the first time since the late October snow. Neighbors
reported that it was 8 inches, and we found widespread damage to trees
and shrubs, especially those species that (presumably) still had
leaves when the snow fell. Birding was rather slow, so it seems
possible that the early snow and wind may have pushed some of the half-
hardy species like towhees, phoebes, bluebirds, and perhaps even
Myrtle Warblers farther south and/or east sooner than normal for the
time of year. The usual suspects in terms of year-round residents and
the most common winter visitors (White-throats and juncos) were there,
but in low numbers. There were no winter finches or other irruptives
like Red-breasted Nuthatch present, though we did have one Fox Sparrow
and one Brown Creeper. There were only a handful of goldfinches, well
below normal for late fall/winter. Robins and Cedar Waxwings were
present in large numbers, thanks to a pretty good wild grape crop.
The only truly uncommon species was a single woodcock flushed twice in
our woods while I was clearing trails of snow-pruned limbs and even
whole trees. We will return this weekend for deer season and hope to
get a bigger and perhaps more interesting bird list.
Dave Davis
Arlington and Cedar Creek
