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:

Canada Goose
American Black Duck
Wood Duck
Mallard
Gadwall
American Widgeon
Redhead
Ring-necked Duck
Hooded Merganser
Common Merganser
Ruddy Duck
Common Loon
Horned Grebe
Great Blue Heron
Black Vulture
Bald Eagle
Coopers Hawk
Red-shouldered Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
American Coot
Killdeer
Rock Pigeon
Mourning Dove
Belted Kingfisher
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Downy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Pileated Woodpecker
Blue Jay
American Crow
Carolina Chickadee
Tufted Titmouse
White-breasted Nuthatch
Carolina Wren
Eastern Bluebird
American Robin
Northern Mockingbird
European Starling
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Northern Cardinal
White-throated Sparrow
Red-winged Blackbird
American Goldfinch
House Sparrow

Sandy Sagalkin
Sharpsburg, MD

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