Swoope, VA 2/13/18

All photos are © Marshall Faintich

The temperature was 35 degrees, and there was fairly dense cloud cover, but the forecast was for the rain that started since last Frriday evening to be over, so I headed to Swoope in the Shenandoah Valley to see what avian species I could find. There had been a couple of reports of Golden Eagles during the past few weeks, including five days ago when I was there but had not looked in the area where one had been seen.

I arrived mid-morning, and started out at Smith Lake where I have permission to go birding on that private property. I didn't see many birds, but as I reached the far west end of the lake, I saw a few Song and Field Sparrows.

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Song Sparrow

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Field Sparrow

And then I thought I saw a Chipping Sparrow, but when I got my camera lens on it, I immediately knew that I had a winner - an American Tree Sparrow! Although the Virginia Gold Book states that this species is irregularly common to uncommon here, I have only seen this species one time in the 11+ years that I have been birding, and that was a small flock of them in Highland County, Virginia in February 2013. The American Tree Sparrow that I saw there today was not very cooperative in posing away from dense vegetation, but I was able to get a few photos. Note the almost white outer tail feathers. My Sibley's guide deosn't show this feature, but my specialty book on sparrows states that outer tail feathers can be somewhat paler on this species.

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American Tree Sparrow

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American Tree Sparrow

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American Tree Sparrow

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American Tree Sparrow

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American Tree Sparrow

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Field and American Tree Sparrows

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American Tree Sparrow

I had just finished taking these photos and was trying to re-locate this sparrow for better photos, when it started to rain. The rain wasn't heavy, but with 35 degree temperature, it was cold. I was a long way from my car, so I huddled next to the trunk of a large tree trying to stay dry and keep my camera dry. The rain stopped about 20 minutes later, and I made my way back to my car, but didn't see any birds other than a Belted Kingfisher on the way. I then did some driving around Swoope to see what else I could find. I stopped along Trimbles Mill Road when I saw a small flock of adult and juvenile White-crowned Sparrows where I had seen them five days ago.

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White-crowned Sparrow

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White-crowned Sparrow

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White-crowned Sparrow

I continued on North Mountain Road, saw a male and a female Northern Harrier, a male American Kestrel, and got a view of one of the resident Bald Eagles on its nest.

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Northern Harriers

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American Kestrel

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Bald Eagle

It was still very overcast, but I wanted to try one more time to look for the American Tree Sparrow at Smith Lake. Once again, I hiked down to the far west end of the lake, saw a Swamp Sparrow, and then re-located the American Tree Sparrow.

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Swamp Sparrow

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American Tree Sparrow

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American Tree Sparrow

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American Tree Sparrow

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American Tree Sparrow

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American Tree Sparrow

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American Tree Sparrow

As I hiked back to my car, I saw some Mallards and Gadwalls.

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Mallards

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Gadwalls

I now had 24 avian species at Swoope today, but as I went looking for more, it started to rain again, and this time it was fairly heavy, so I decided to head for home.


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