Central VA 4/7,9/17

All photos are © Marshall Faintich

Old Trail; Crozet, VA; 4/7/17

It was quite windy so I hiked close to home this morning, and ended up with 20 avian species.

Photo Unavailable
Northern Cardinal

Photo Unavailable
Northern Rough-winged Swallow

Photo Unavailable
Northern Rough-winged Swallow

Photo Unavailable
Ruby-crowned Kinglet

Photo Unavailable
Pine Warbler

Shenandoah Valley, VA; 4/9/17

Walt Childs and I headed west over the Blue Ridge. Our first planned stop was at Mccormick's Mill in Raphine, and we had a fair nimber of species on the way there.

Photo Unavailable
Red-tailed Hawk

By the time we left McCormick's Mill, our trip tally was up to 27 avian species.

Photo Unavailable
Brown Thrasher

Photo Unavailable
Chipping Sparrow

Photo Unavailable
Eastern Towhee

We then stopped at Willow Lake in Raphine where we saw 18 avain species, including 12 that we had not seen on this trip prior to arrival there. Some of the species in addition to those shown below included Double-crested Cormorant, Ring-necked Duck, Bleted Kingfisher, and Pied-billed Grebe.

Photo Unavailable
Osprey

Photo Unavailable
Hooded Merganser

Photo Unavailable
Gadwalls

Photo Unavailable
American Wigeons

Photo Unavailable
Blue-winged Teal

We then drove west and south from Raphine. A fox crossed the road in front of us, and we saw a few more species for the trip.

Photo Unavailable
Fox

Photo Unavailable
American Kestrels

Next stop was Swoope in Augusta County. We saw several species at Smith Lake, including Green-winged and Blue-winged Teals, a Northern Pintail, Mallards, a large Snapping Turtle, and a Greater Yellowlegs. We drove around Swoope looking for the resident Bald Eagles, but didn't see them. We saw our third Belted Kingfisher of the day.

Photo Unavailable
Green-winged Teals

Photo Unavailable
Blue-winged Teal

Photo Unavailable
Greater Yellowlegs

Photo Unavailable
Red-tailed Hawk

Photo Unavailable
Belted Kingfisher

We ended the outing with a quick stop at the Fishersville quarry where we saw our 51st avian species of the day: American Coot. On the drive back, Walt spotted a bear cub that had be hit and killed on I-64 at Afton Mountain.


E-mail comments on this report

Return to blog page home