Rockbridge and Augusta Counties, VA 10/14/16

All photos are © Marshall Faintich

It was bright and sunny, with cool, crisp autumn air this morning. Walt Childs and I headed west over the Blue Ridge Mountains and south into Rockbridge County. Our first stop was at McCormick's Mill in Raphine. I had been there a few times in previous years, and had only seen a few species there in addition to some domestic geese and ducks. We saw four or five common, avian species on the way there. When we arrived and checked out the small pond near the parking lot, all I saw were two domestic Greater White-fronted Geese and a few domestic Mallards. We didn't count these birds in our trip list as they were not wild birds, but one of the Mallards was quite attractive.

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Domestic Mallard

We decided to hike the trail there to see if we could find any birds. This trail must have been under improvement in my previous visits to the mill, as I didn't remember it being so well maintained, nor as "birdy" as it was this morning. There were birds everywhere! We saw lots of Yellow-rumped Warblers and Ruby-crowned Kinglets, a few Golden-crowned Kinglets, my FOS Winter Wren and FOS Hermit Thrush, and by the time we ended the hike at the mill, our trip list was up to 27 avian species.

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Yellow-rumped Warbler

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Ruby-crowned Kinglet

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Golden-crowned Kinglet

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Eastern Towhee

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Winter Wren

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Winter Wren

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Hermit Thrush

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Blue-headed Vireo

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Blue-headed Vireo

Our next stop was at Willow Lake in Raphine, where we added eight more avian species to our list including, Pied-billed Grebe, Northern Shoveler, Gadwall, Ruddy Duck, and American Coot.

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Northern Shoveler

We decided to drive west on Raphine Road to Brownsburg Turnpike, and then south on New Providence Road where we had seen some good raptors on previous biridng trips. We hadn't seen any raptors yet on this trip except for a few Turkey Vultures. Along the way, we stopped to see some sparrows and other small birds.

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White-crowned Sparrow

We weren't on New Providence Road very far when we saw our first hawk of the trip - a Red-tailed, and the first of eight of them we ended up seeing on the trip. This Red-tailed Hawk had very dark and colorful markings, and perhaps was one of the "northern" race variety.

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Red-tailed Hawk

We continued south on New Providence Road, saw more sparrows and a backlit Palm Warbler, and stopped to see our second Red-tailed Hawk of the trip.

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Red-tailed Hawk

While I was tracking this hawk when it was in flight, a distant and flat-winged raptor came into view of my camera. It was an adult Bald Eagle, and then Walt spotted a second Bald Eagle flying with it - a Basic II sub-adult.

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Bald Eagles

We continued on to Dutch Hollow Road where we saw our first of five American Kestrels on this trip, and more Red-tailed Hawks, Kinglets, and several other species.

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Female American Kestrel

We continued north on Walker Creek Road and soon after entering Augusta County, we stopped when we saw a few distant Turkey Vultures, but one of them looked to have flat wings - it was a Golden Eagle!

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Golden Eagle

This was really turning out to be a great birding day, but we weren't done yet. We did some birding in Swoope, and saw several more avian species. We saw a male and a female American Kestrel perched together in a small tree. American Kestrels are fairly common in Swoope, but it is unusual to see a pair of them perched together.

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American Kestrels

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Common Yellowthroat

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Swamp Sparrow

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Our 7th Red-tailed Hawk of the trip

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Belted Kingfisher

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Yellow-rumped Warbler

As we were leaving Swoope, we saw our 53rd avian species of the day - a Red-headed Woodpecker, and in the same tree where we have seen this species on our last two trips this year to Swoope.

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Red-headed Woodpecker

Trip list:

Pied-billed Grebe
Canada Goose
Mallard
Gadwall
Northern Shoveler
Ruddy Duck
Turkey Vulture
Red-tailed Hawk
Bald Eagle
Golden Eagle
American Kestrel
American Coot
Spotted Sandpiper
Mourning Dove
Rock Pigeon
Belted Kingfisher
Red-headed Woodpecker
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Downy Woodpecker
Hairy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Pileated Woodpecker
Eastern Wood-Pewee
Eastern Phoebe
Blue-headed Vireo
Blue Jay
American Crow
Northern Rough-winged Swallow
Tree Swallow
Tufted Titmouse
Carolina Chickadee
White-breasted Nuthatch
Carolina Wren
Winter Wren
Golden-crowned Kinglet
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Eastern Bluebird
Hermit Thrush
Northern Mockingbird
European Starling
Cedar Waxwing
Common Yellowthroat
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Palm Warbler
Northern Cardinal
Eastern Towhee
Field Sparrow
Chipping Sparrow
Savannah Sparrow
Song Sparrow
White-crowned Sparrow
Eastern Meadowlark
American Goldfinch


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