Stoney Creek (Wintergreen) 11/12,15/11; Rockfish Valley Trail 11/14/11

All photos are © Marshall Faintich


The weather has been great for mid-November, but there hasn't been much avian activity. On November 12, the highlights were a late season Osprey fishing on Sawmill Creek pond # 3 and a Cooper's Hawk flying across Lake Monocan.


Dark-eyed Junco (Stoney Creek)


Osprey (Stoney Creek)


Cooper's Hawk (Stoney Creek)


Eastern Phoebe (Rockfish Valley Trail)

November 15, 2011: The sunny skies finally gave way to complete cloud cover with rain forecasted for tonight and all day tomorrow. I started off hiking down to the Allen Creek Nature Preserve here in Stoney Creek, and after a while had logged 16 species, with a Hermit Thrush in the nature preserve as the hightlight of the hike at that point. There weren't a lot of birds to be seen, except for lots of Canada Geese in the lake and ponds, and I thought it would be another so-so birding day.


Dark-eyed Junco and Field Sparrow


Downy Woodpecker


Hermit Thrush


Song Sparrow


Chipping Sparrow

I then drove over to the pond on the east side of Hidden Creek Drive - a good place to see ducks, and added two more species along the way. When I parked my car along the street, I heard a Red-shouldered Hawk across a large field, and it was easy to locate it as I have seen this species of hawk on the same tree many times before. I then walked down to the Hidden Creek pond, and sure enough, there were ducks - four Mallards and at least four Wood Ducks.


Red-shouldered Hawk


Mallards and a Wood Duck

As I headed back to my car, I saw some avian activity in the creek on the other side of the road - it was the birding place to be this morning. Six species of birds were bathing in the creek, and another six species were in the trees along the creek.


Yellow- and orange-tipped tail Cedar Waxwings


Cedar Waxwings


Cedar Waxwings


Eastern Bluebird and Yellow-rumped Warbler


American Goldfinch and Northern Cardinal


White-breasted Nuthatch

On my drive home I saw a pair of Red-shouldered Hawks, and had logged 26 species here in Stoney Creek this morning.


Red-shouldered Hawks

This morning's list (26 species):

American Crow
Eastern Bluebird
Starling
Turkey Vulture
Black Vulture
American Goldfinch
Hermit Thrush
Field Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Chipping Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco
Mallard
Wood Duck
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Flicker
Downy Woodpecker
Carolina Wren
Carolina Chickadee
Tufted Titmouse

Red-shouldered Hawk
Northern Cardinal
Canada Goose
Cedar Waxwing
White-breasted Nuthatch
Yellow-rumped Warbler



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