Had a beautiful morning for a BBS route which spans 3 counties -- Shenandoah,
Page and Rockingham. Starts @ Edinburg Gap and finishes on Cub Run Road near
Runkles Gap. This is an interrupted ridge route mostly through National Forest
with elevations between 1500 - 2500 ft. Nothing out of the ordinary bird-wise.
Carolina Wrens were remarkably absent and I had few raptors; lotsa Ovenbirds!
Highlights included a Wild Turkey Hen with a dozen chicks, scurrying within a
shotgun length of the car. My favorite encounter was a 2 foot long beautiful
Timber Rattlesnake with a 5 button rattle, which it started to shake as I tried
to gently nudge it off the road. I also moved an Eastern Box Turtle and a Wood
Turtle off the road. I remember Wood Turtles from my childhood days in PA and
this is my first in VA.
John Spahr
Staunton & New Hampden, VA
Location: BBS 88903, New Market
Observation date: 6/8/11
Notes: BBS #88903
Number of species: 46
Wild Turkey 1
Turkey Vulture 2
Broad-winged Hawk 2
Mourning Dove 6
Yellow-billed Cuckoo 5
Barred Owl 1
Eastern Whip-poor-will 3
Red-bellied Woodpecker 1
Downy Woodpecker 3
Northern Flicker 2
Pileated Woodpecker 2
Eastern Wood-Pewee 13
Acadian Flycatcher 20
Eastern Phoebe 2
Great Crested Flycatcher 7
Red-eyed Vireo 67
Blue Jay 8
American Crow 50
Fish Crow 2
Common Raven 2
Carolina Chickadee 9
Tufted Titmouse 34
White-breasted Nuthatch 8
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 11
Eastern Bluebird 1
Wood Thrush 5
American Robin 5
Gray Catbird 1
Brown Thrasher 1
Cedar Waxwing 2
Northern Parula 1
Pine Warbler 3
Prairie Warbler 1
American Redstart 3
Worm-eating Warbler 5
Ovenbird 60
Louisiana Waterthrush 2
Hooded Warbler 6
Eastern Towhee 14
Chipping Sparrow 7
Scarlet Tanager 19
Northern Cardinal 3
Rose-breasted Grosbeak 1
Indigo Bunting 15
Brown-headed Cowbird 2
American Goldfinch 9
This report was generated automatically by eBird v2(http://ebird.org)
