Friends,
I spent 3 hours this morning checking a few Albemarle
County / Charlottesville area ponds and lakes, looking
for waterfowl.
I started at the pond on Powell Creek Drive in the
Forest Lakes North sub-division off Rt 29, north of
Cville. This is where Jenn Gaden et al reported a
drake COMMON GOLDENEYE last weekend. I easily
re-located the bird today. This ice-free pond also
hosted 9 RING-NECKED DUCK (7m, 2f), a drake RUDDY
DUCK, an AMERICAN COOT, and 4 MALLARD (2m, 2f).
At Chris Greene Lake, just north of the
Charlottesville Airport, REDHEAD (3m) were still
present, and they were accompanied by a lone AMERICAN
COOT. There were also 2 AMERICAN BLACK DUCK on the
lake. Some of the coves and edges of this lake were
ice-covered.
At Lake Albemarle, which was about 30% ice-covered, I
found 4 HOODED MERGANSER (2m, 2f) motoring around the
open water.
Beaver Creek had only a lone drake MALLARD, but a
beautifully-plumaged adult BALD EAGLE soared a bit and
perched in a tall tree near the dam.
After this past season's CVille CBC scouting potluck
dinner / countdown (9 Dec 06), Steve Jamme told me of
a RED-HEADED WOODPECKER he had seen on Thanksgiving
fetching acorns from the road near Lake Albemarle. I
didnt have a chance to get out to the lake again
until mid-January. I searched for the bird on 15
January and 27 January, spending 15 20 minutes in
the relevant area each time, but I did not see or hear
it. But on 4 February, as I was nearing the end of a
mornings wander, the bird flew in from my right and
perched in a large dead tree. This was the first
Red-headed Woodpecker I had seen in the 3 years I've
lived in Albemarle County. On Sunday morning, 11
February, I saw 2 adult Red-headed Woodpeckers at this
location and watched one chase away a Pileated
Woodpecker who had been hammering at a tree limb just
above my head. These birds are approx 4 miles from the
Red-headed Woodpeckers recently discovered by Jenny
Gaden.
Mark Adams
Charlottesville
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