For the past two days, birding reports from Rockingham County, Virginia, about 1 to 1-1/2 hours from where I live, have included two birds that would be new life birds for me - a Nelson's Sharp-tailed Sparrow at Lake Shenandoah in Harrisonburg, and a Snow Bunting at the top of Reddish Knob in the Allegheny Mountains along the border with West Virginia. I asked Walt Childs if he wanted to go after them with me, and he gladly accepted.
We headed off at 8:30 this morning, first for Lake Shenandoah, because the temperatures were below freezing in the area, and there was still snow at the higher elevations from superstorm Sandy. We spent an hour at Lake Shenandoah, logged a dozen species, but no Nelson's. We made a quick stop at Lake Campbell where we saw lots of Canada Geese and a small flock of Lesser Scaup.
American Coot
Yellow-rumped Warbler
On the road up to Reddish Knob (elevation 4,397 feet), we stopped to look at a small flock of four to six Fox Sparrows.
Fox Sparrow
While we were out of the car watching the Fox Sparrows, a caravan of six or seven Jeep Wranglers sped by us filled with older teenagers - oh no! Were they going up to Reddish Knob to party? We had already missed our first target bird, and now would we miss our second one?
As we made the last turn before the Reddish Knob summit, we could see the Jeeps and hear the noise. But suddenly, a medium sized white bird with brown markings flew from the brush below where the jeeps had just parked, and it flew across the road in front of our car - it was the Snow Bunting - a new life bird for me. We parked at the summit, and the Jeepsters left after about 15 minutes.
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Pine Siskin
On the way back down from the Reddish Knob summit, we stopped at several locations were we saw lots of Dark-eyed Juncos, several Golden-crowned Kinglets, and a few woodpeckers.
Golden-crowned Kinglet
Downy Woodpecker
We decided to head back to Lake Shenandoah to try for the Nelson's again. Once again we did not see it, but there was a lot of activity on the lake. Mallards were flying around, and we saw two species that we had not seen that morning - a Double-crested Cormorant, and a male Canvasback Duck [update: thanks to Greg M. for pointing out that the female in the photos is a Lesser Scaup]. The Canvasback was a new life bird for me!
Mallard
Mallards
Male Canvasback
Canvasback and female Lesser Scaup
Canvasback and female Lesser Scaup
Our last stop was Leonard's Pond just south of Harrisonburg, where all we saw was a flock of Canada Geese, but we stopped nearby when we saw a Red-tailed Hawk being chased by some Blue Jays.
Red-tailed Hawk
!#@%! Jays
Now where did they go?
Today's trip list (32 species):
Fox Sparrow Dark-eyed Junco Mallard Canvasback Ruddy Duck Double-crested Cormorant American Coot Lesser Scaup Carolina Chickadee Black-capped Chickadee Eastern Bluebird Yellow-rumped Warbler Pine Siskin Golden-crowned Kinglet Tufted Titmouse Snow Bunting Catbird Northern Mockingbird American Robin Blue Jay Starling Downy Woodpecker Pileated Woodpecker Red-tailed Hawk Red-shouldered Hawk American Kestrel American Crow Starling |