Crow and Kestrel
Walt Childs and I went looking for the Northern Goshawk and owls in the Stuart's Draft area. It was sunny and windy, and the temperature stayed in the low 30s all day. We started out on Shalom and then Hall School Roads where we saw a pair of American Kestrels doing battle with an American Crow. At times the Kestrels were chasing the Crow, and then vice versa. The Crow was missing a good portion of its tail feathers.
Crow and Kestrel
We saw a couple of Red-tailed Hawks and four Buffleheads along Lipscomb Road, and then went over to the sewage treatment plant. There were Lesser Scaup, Ring-necked Ducks, and Mallards in the pond there, but the best birding was next to the railroad tracks where we saw lots of sparrows. A juvenile Sharp-shinned Hawk was hiding in the vegetation, presumably waiting for a chance to grab one of the sparrows, but it flew away when I approached it.
Buffleheads
Ring-necked Duck and Lesser Scaup
Mallards
Immature White-crowned Sparrow
Adult White-crowned Sparrow
Downy Woodpecker
Sharp-shinned Hawk
Sharp-shinned Hawk
Sharp-shinned Hawk
We saw lots of Robins and Starlings along Guthrie Road, a few Eastern Meadowlarks, and a boldy colored Red-tailed Hawk.
Eastern Meadowlark
Red-tailed Hawk
Our drive back to the Rockfish Valley including stops at Sherando Lake and the Coal Road through the national forest, but we didn't see much there. We ended our outing with a drive along route 627 behind the Rockfish valley Trail where we saw a Great Blue Heron fly from the small pond along the road.
I wanted to get some exercise before my afternoon presentation on bird photography at the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at the University of Virginia, so I did a couple of mile, morning hike from our house. There were several Carolina Wrens in the Allen Creek Nature Preserve, but the best birding was in the small pine forest at the end of our street. There were a few Pine Warblers singing loudly high in the trees, a Pine Siskin, and I got a few good photos of an adult Cooper's Hawk. Eastern Phoebes were seen all along the hike.
Carolina Wren
Pine Siskin
Pine Siskin
Pine Warbler
Pine Warbler
Pine Warbler
Cooper's Hawk
Cooper's Hawk
Cooper's Hawk
Cooper's Hawk
Cooper's Hawk
Eastern Phoebe