Early this morning there was on the abbey pond a female Common Merganser (it
had a dark brown head), the first time I have ever seen this bird here. In
fact, we have had all three merganser species here this year. The merganser
stayed around for only a couple of hours.
Later in the day I watched an Osprey catch a large bluegill in the pond, and
nearby there was a male Bobolink singing at the top of a large poplar tree in
the middle of the hayfield.
I found a pair of Red-breasted Nuthatches in the large stand of white pines
along our road, adjacent to the Blue Ridge Parkway. I haven't noticed them
there before, but then again it is a fairly large area of pine trees, so I will
have to pay more attention to see if they are nesting.
The Indigo Buntings are staking our territories, they seem to be singing from
every prominent tree or bush in our old abandoned pastures, and there were a
couple of Cerulean Warblers in the woods behind the abbey, as well as a male
Black-thr. Blue, 6 Yellow-rumpeds, 2 Black-and-White, 4 Redstarts and lots of
Ovenbirds and Hooded Warblers.
Father John Sebastian
Syon Abbey
Blue Ridge Parkway
Franklin County
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