FreeLists / va-bird / [va-bird] Re: A few notes from Huntley and Dyke Marsh

[Frederick Atwood <fredatwood@xxxxxxxxx>]

Interesting story about the duck being eaten.
Yesterday my Field Natural History class saw a
female green-wnged teal and female bufflehead in
the main pond at Huntley. I wonder if one of
these two is now missing. I'll be curiously
watching the Huntley Monday bird-list.

By the way, our "best" birds at Huntley yesterday
AM were an american pipit and a beautiful pair of
hooded mergansers.

I hope you have a great week.
Fred A
--- Philip Kline <pgkline_uk@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> 
> I took my Mum and a friend to Huntley and Dyke
> Marsh
> today for an afternoon walk.  Both places were
> pretty
> quiet but it was a gorgeous day out there.
> 
> At Huntley, I had the rather morbid "privilege"
> of
> seeing what I can only assume was a snapping
> turtle
> taking out a small duck.  From the platform I
> noticed
> a duck splashing about some 50 feet from shore.
>  I
> thought at first that it was just flapping
> about and
> washing its feathers, but I noticed after a few
> seconds that its head was not coming up. 
> Anyway,
> after watching it for a few more seconds it
> stopped
> moving and a pool of blood started spreading
> out
> around it.  I couldn't tell what the duck was;
> it was
> likely a ruddy based on its size and the tail. 
> It was
> then pulled under water for a while, but then
> resurfaced upside down.  I guess the turtle
> decided it
> wasn't that hungry after all.  
> 
> After that display, the rest of the walk around
> Huntley was pretty uneventful.  There was a
> nice
> juvenile red-shouldered hawk sitting on a snag
> at the
> north end of the marsh watching a few bluebirds
> flying
> around.  I spoke to the ranger? at the visitor
> center
> and he told me he had seen a ROUGH-LEGGED HAWK
> this
> morning.  He proceeded to talk about red-tails
> and
> red-shouldereds, which led me to believe his ID
> was
> likely correct.  This seems early though.  He
> also had
> several stories of snapping turtle victims
> including,
> believe it or not, a great egret!  He also
> recounted a
> story of a snapping turtle trying to raid a
> Canada
> goose's nest only for the mother to proceed to
> peck
> and beat in over the head with her wings until
> it
> rereated.
> 
> Dyke Marsh had more birds but less drama.  A
> large
> raft of about 250-300 coots was feeding in the
> channel
> at the end of the boardwalk trail.  A couple of
> greater yellowlegs were also feeding in the
> channel. 
> There were quite a few ducks at the mouth of
> Hunting
> Creek too.  I saw two rafts totalling over 400
> ruddies
> fairly close in with about 100 lesser scaup and
> 2
> buffleheads mixed in.  I also saw a lone tundra
> swan
> in the main channel with a bunch of Canada
> geese.  A
> few great egrets are still around near the
> stone
> bridge.  I also saw 2 Forster's terns from the
> boardwalk.  That's about it.
> 
> Philip Kline
> 
>
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=====
Frederick D. Atwood     fredatwood@xxxxxxxxx
Flint Hill School, 10409 Academic Dr, Oakton, VA 22124
703-242-1675     
http://www.agpix.com/fredatwood
http://www.flinthill.org

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