Blue Grass Valley; Highland County, VA 1/26/18

All photos are © Marshall Faintich

It had snowed on Wednesday (1/24) night, and the Route 250 VDOT traffic cam in Highland showed a lot of snow with partially cleared roads on Thursday morning. But on Friday morning, the same traffic cam showed fully cleared roads and only some snow on the ground, and with sunny skies and mid-50s forecasted for the afternoon there, Walt Childs and I made the 85 mile drive each way to the Blue Grass Valley in the Allegheney Mountains of Highland County, Virginia, to look for Golden Eagles. We had really good views of Bald Eagles and juvenile Golden Eagles there in previous winters, but we made the trip there on January 9th and didn't see a single eagle that time. I really wanted to get good photos of an adult Golden Eagle, as the only photos I had previously taken of adult Golden Eagles were distant and not very good.

Walt told me that he had a great view of a Red-shouldered Hawk on the way to my house, and we saw Wild Turkeys fly across the highway on the north side of Staunton, as well as a Red-tailed Hawk on the way to Blue Grass. When we got to Blue Grass, we could see that the ice in the creeks had mostly melted, and almost all of the snow in the fields was gone. Soon after turning onto Wimer Mountain Road, we stooped when we saw a flock of about 50 Cedar Waxwings that were flying down to one of the small creeks to drink and to bathe.

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Cedar Waxwings

We stopped a short distance later when we saw a pair of flying Red-tailed Hawks, and then the pair landed in a nearby tree.

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Red-tailed Hawk

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Red-tailed Hawks

Farther up the road, we stopped when we saw John Spahr driving by. John is a great birder that we both know, and he has a second home in Blue Grass, so he knows the area well. John said that it had been fairly quiet there lately for birding. We continued on, and then drove up Hardscrabble Road where we had previously seen most of the Golden and Bald Eagles on previous trips. All we saw was another Red-tailed Hawk, and we were thinking that it might be another no-show eagle day.

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Red-tailed Hawk

We returned to Hevener Road, and then turned onto Laurel Fork Road. We stopped to look at a distant Bald Eagle nest that had been empty on the previous trip, and didn't see anything in the nest today. But then I saw two white heads lower down and in front of the nest.

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Bald Eagles

I got out of the car to get better photos, and less than a minute later, the male Bald Eagle flew to the female, mounted her, and then moved and perched next to her. Look for juveniles in the spring!

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Bald Eagles

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Bald Eagles

Well, that was better than not seeing any eagles on this trip. I had researched eBird before leaving home, and saw that there were reports during the past couple of weeks of Golden Eagles south of there along Maple Sugar Road. So we decided to try there. Along the way we saw a pair of noisy Ravens.

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Common Raven

We drove a couple of miles, and once again saw John Spahr and stopped to chat. John said that a red-morph Screech Owl had taken over one of the Kestrel boxes closer to Route 250, and offered to show us where. He also said that this owl liked to poke it head out of the box to warm in the afternoon sun, so we followed to take a look. Near to the kestrel box, John stopped his car, and Walt parked next to it, while I walked up for a closer look and photo.

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Screech Owl

After taking a few photos, I turned around and headed back to the cars. A few seconds later, Walt called out, "Golden Eagle!" I turned and looked up to the sky but couldn't see any eagle. When I got back to Walt and John, I asked where did they see the Golden Eagle, only to hear that it was low to the ground, and between the Kestrel box and a tree line less that 100 feet away. I was right there with my camera, but didn't know where to look :-(

They said that the Golden Eagle had turned and flew behind that tree line. A minute later, the Golden Eagle returned and was being chased by a Red-tailed Hawk!

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Golden Eagle and Red-tailed Hawk

But this time, it was between the first tree line and a more distant tree line. This Golden Eagle looked to be a sub-adult, as it still had some white on its upper wing and tail feathers.

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Golden Eagle

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Golden Eagle

The Red-tailed Hawk continued to chase the Golden Eagle as both birds climbed in the thermals and finally flew to the north and out of sight. At times, the Red-tailed Hawk almost collided with the Golden Eagle.

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Golden Eagle and Red-tailed Hawk

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Golden Eagle and Red-tailed Hawk

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Golden Eagle and Red-tailed Hawk

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Golden Eagle and Red-tailed Hawk

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Golden Eagle and Red-tailed Hawk

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Golden Eagle and Red-tailed Hawk

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Golden Eagle

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Golden Eagle

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Golden Eagle

That made the trip worthwhile, and now I need to make more winter trips there for closer and better photos.


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