Walt Childs and I did some birding along our usual route in northern Augusta and southern Rockingham Counties. We hadn't done this loop since last spring, and it's a good route for finding raptors and wintering bird species. We didn't see anthing really special, but had a fun outing and ended up with 42 avian species. It started out cloudy, got sunny, and then overcast again. We saw three Americal Kestrels, but didn't see any hawks until just after noon, and then ended up with five Red-tailed Hawks and one juvenile Cooper's Hawk.
American Kestrel
American Kestrel
American Kestrel
Red-tailed Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
Red-tailed Hawks
Cooper's Hawk
We saw eight sparrow species; the five shown below plus Song Sparrow, Eastern Towhee, and Dark-eyed Junco.
Savannah Sparrow
White-crowned Sparrow
White-crowned Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow
Field Sparrow
Chipping Sparrow
We saw large flocks of Starlings, Brown-headed Cowbirds, and Tree Swallows, and a huge flock of Common Grackles.
Starlings and Brown-headed Cowbirds
Tree Swallows
Killdeer
Eastern Meadowlark
Northern Cardinal
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler