Augusta County, VA 3/8/18

All photos are © Marshall Faintich

It was a bit windy and the temperatures never made it out of the mid to high 30s, but Walt Childs and I ventured out into Augusta County to look for whatever birds we could find. It was supposed to be partly cloudy turning to mostly sunny by afternoon, but we saw a few snowflakes north of Waynesboro, and could see patches of snow falling close to the western side of the Blue Ridge Mountains. We started off on our usual route on Strickley Road and made our way along mostly back roads to the Shenandoah Valley Regional Airport. Many of the smaller birds were hunkered down and staying out of the wind.

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Red-tailed Hawk carrying nesting material

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White-crowned Sparrow

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White-crowned Sparrow

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White-crowned Sparrow

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Downy Woodpecker

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Female American Kestrel

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Male American Kestrel

From the airport, we headed south towards Swoope. We were watching a male American Kestrel when another hawk flew in. It was a juvenile Cooper's Hawk missing a lot of feathers.

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Male American Kestrel

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Juvenile Cooper's Hawk

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Juvenile Cooper's Hawk

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Juvenile Cooper's Hawk

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Juvenile Cooper's Hawk

We continued on, saw another Red-tailed Hawk and a few other woodland species.

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Red-tailed Hawk

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Northern Flicker

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Northern Flicker

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Song Sparrow

When we got to Swoope, we went first to Smith Lake where we have permission to go birding. We saw one of the two resident Bald Eagles perched near the drive, and then it flew to its nest carrying nesting materials.

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Bald Eagle

We then drove some of the roads in Swoope, and saw a few more birds.

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Male American Kestrel carrying a mouse

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Belted Kingfisher

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Killdeer

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Adult Cooper's Hawk

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Red-tailed Hawk

We stopped at a high vantage point on North Mountain Road where we could get a good, but distant, view of the eagle's nest. Both Bald Eagles were there, and at one point traded positions. One of the Bald Eagles appeared to be bending down into the nest, perhaps feeding a little one.

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Bald Eagles

On our way out along Hewitt Road, we spotted a female Northern Harrier.

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Northern Harrier

It was a good outing, especially given the weather. We ended up with 36 avian species including Bald Eagles (2), Red-tailed Hawks (4), Cooper's Hawks (2), American Kestrels (5 males, 3 females), and one Northern Harrier.


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