PVAS sponsored a bird walk at the National Conservation Training Center this morning. We walked up Sagamore Hill, around the eagle’s nest and onto the Riverview Farm trail, over to the landing and back. We had very good looks at the eagle and the eaglet in the nest. We also had some dramatic acrobatics by an Osprey and Red-shouldered Hawk. We had 4 warbler species – Northern Parula, Blue-winged Warbler, Yellow-rumped Warbler and Louisiana Waterthrush. We had 46 species including:
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The Potomac Valley Audubon Society sponsored a waterfowl hop at various locations in Jefferson county . We had a very good day, with 10 duck species, 10 Horned Grebes and a Common Loon, in addition to other birds. We had 44 species in all. We saw Redheads at the Old Country Club Road ponds and at Shannondale Lake, which also had the loon. We stopped at a Great Blue Heron roost just before the power station on the Shenandoah River and counted 9 nests. And we had an immature Bald Eagle on Rissler road. As we pulled into the Martins Supermarket Parking lot at the end of the trip, a Coopers Hawk sat on the telephone wire where we had very good looks at him. The topping for my trip was on the way home driving over the Potomac River bridge at Shepherdstown, a Common Raven was circling.

The full list is as follows:
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PVAS sponsored a bird walk at Stauffer’s Marsh Nature Preserve this morning. There were large numbers of Whte-throated Sparrows in evidence in the trees along the road and along the drive at the northern end of the preserve. Blue Jays were also abundant. We had several Black-capped Chickadees and an American Tree Sparrow. The highlight was an Eastern Screech Owl and Red-shouldered Hawk vocalizing at the same time.

We had 26 species as follows:
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PVAS sponsored a trip to the Snicker’s Gap Hawk Watch. The weather was beautiful with light but favorable winds. Several of the participants were hoping for a Golden Eagle and one appeared in late morning, together with a mature Bald Eagle. In addition, we saw about a dozen Red-tailed Hawks, a couple Red-shouldered Hawks (one of which appeared to be flying with only half of its feathers, the other feathers having molted) and a Sharp-shinned Hawk. Several of us were spoiled by the record-breaking Golden Eagle day at Waggoner’s Gap last Saturday. Nevertheless, it is always a treat to see Golden Eagles.

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