The Shenandoah Valley Regional Airport is Augusta County’s only public airport. Its runway offers a unique, if artificial, habitat of short grass, that has attracted some uncommon Augusta County birds including Short-eared Owl and Rough-legged Hawk. During rainstorms in spring and fall migration seasons, there can be large fallouts of shorebirds (Sandpipers and Plovers) along the runway. The runway fields can be viewed from Little Run Road (see separate hotspot description), Broad Run Road, or the Airport parking lot (free parking — this is a small airport!) at the end of Aviation Circle. The farm fields along Aviation Circle are a good place for a variety of songbirds in winter including Horned Lark, American Pipit, Lapland Longspur (uncommon), and Rusty Blackbird. When the ground is snow-covered, these birds often flock to the shoulders of Aviation Circle for easy viewing. This was the location of the first state record Smith’s Longspur in 2015.
eBird Hotspot: Shenandoah Valley Regional Airport
—Gabriel Mapel