Greets...
This morning five of us got together for a grebe run to some of the larger
lakes in Prince William, Fauquier, and Culpeper County. The team consisted
of slackers, unemployeds, and the irresponsible. Sue Heath, Jon Little, Lad
and Ian Topolsky, and myself started at about eight-forty-five AM. It was in
the high teens with a nice northwesterly breeze smacking us in the face as we
stood looking north at Lake Manassas.
Lake Manassas is in Prince William County, and has a pool area of about 850
acres since they raised the height of the dam a few years ago. It is
difficult to view as much of the frontage is private property. Today many of
the coves were iced over, with a large area of open water in the middle. It
held a single Red-necked Grebe, about fifty or so Common Mergansers, some
Bufflehead, Black Ducks, and many Canada Geese along with a single coot.
Lake Brittle is in Fauquier County, 77 acres, and owned by Virginia
Department of Game and Inland Fisheries. There is an area with access for a
boat ramp and a small fishing pier, and that side of the lake held the only
open water. It was mostly frozen with maybe 20 or so open acres. No grebes,
but there was an adult Lesser Black-backed Gull there, as there has been for
a few winters, along with a dozen or so Ring-billed Gulls. Also noted were a
few Ruddy Ducks, some scaup, and some Ring-necked Ducks and Bufflehead. Six
people were fishing from the banks. Seems they would have fit well with our
team. There was a Woodchuck seen running along a snow covered field on the
opposite side of the fence at Vint Hill. This was one ratty looking Whistle
Pig, and I can't imagine that it is thrilled with its lot these days.
Next stop was Lake Pelham, in Culpeper County. A large lake, at least a
couple hundred acres, but I'm not certain of its actual size. Much of it had
open water, but we couldn't find any grebes. About sixteen Common Mergansers
and some Canada Geese were the best we could do on the big side. The small
side had a mute swan or two. They breed here annually, and the young become
adult sized before they are gone. I've no idea where they end up, but maybe
they explain some of the mutes that appear on ponds on this end of the
piedmont.
Lake Coventry is a good sized lake in southern Fauquier County in a private
subdivision. It is probably under a hundred acres, but barely so. It's held
common loons in the past, so it seemed a reasonable place to check. No
grebes here either. It was about half open, and there were mostly just
Canada Geese and a couple Bufflehead hanging around.
Germantown Lake as accessed by CM Crockett Park near Midland in Fauquier was
next up. This 103 acre lake/reservoir was about half open. This had the
best birding of the day with two Red-necked Grebes, a drake Redhead, Northern
Pintail, Gadwall, Ring-necked Ducks, a few scaup, and many Canada Geese. We
wrapped up the grebe search here, with the temperature only in the low
twenties. We checked the Nokesville area for Brewer's Blackbirds and found
none. On 25 February I had 38 Brewer's in the sloppy farm area on the west
side of Brookfield Road (654) between Parkgate (653) and Aden (646) Roads.
The party split ways at a little after noon (some of us do have to work now
and then), and I checked Airlie Reservoir on my way into work. This private
reservoir is 100 acres, and it was about half open. There was surprisingly
little waterfowl and no grebes here at all. There was one coot.
Cheers...
Todd
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Todd Day
Jeffersonton, VA
Culpeper County
Blkvulture@xxxxxxx
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