There had been a report of a possible sighting of a Snowy Owl near Mt. Crawford, Virginia, so Walt Childs and I headed west over the Blue Ridge Mountains into the Shenandoah Valley this morning to look for it. We didn't see the owl, but ended up with 37 avian species for the trip, including 10 Red-tailed Hawks and 9 American Kestrels.
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American Kestrel
We made a stop at Silver Lake in Dayton, where saw a good number of ducks including Redheads, Canvasbacks, Mallards, Gadwalls, an American Wigeon, and a Bufflehead.
Redhead and Canvasback
Male Canvasback
Female Canvasback
Male and Female Canvasbacks
American Wigeon
American Wigeon
American Wigeon
We continued driving around in the area looking for the owl, saw a juvenile Sharp-shinned Hawk, and then stopped south of Elkton were we saw a few Horned Larks, and a small flock of male and female Common Mergansers in the river.
Juvenile Sharp-shinned Hawk
Horned Lark
Male Common Merganser
Female Common Mergansers
Downy Woodpecker
We made a stop near New Hope to look for more Horned Larks and reported Lapland Longspurs, but didn't see them. We added a few more species to the trip list including a Red-shouldered Hawk. Our last stop was the the Fishersville quarry where the only new species for the trip was American Coot.
Northern Flicker
Today's trip list:
Canada Goose
Mallard
Gadwall
American Wigeon
Canvasback
Redhead
Ring-necked Duck
Bufflehead
Common Merganser
Turkey Vulture
Sharp-shinned Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
American Kestrel
Mourning Dove
Rock Pigeon
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Downy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Blue Jay
Common Raven
American Crow
Horned Lark
Tufted Titmouse
Carolina Chickadee
White-breasted Nuthatch
Carolina Wren
Northern Mockingbird
European Starling
White-throated Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco
Purple Finch
Great Blue Heron
Black Vulture
Red-shouldered Hawk
American Coot
Eastern Bluebird
Northern Cardinal