Ducks provided the highlights of a day and a half spent county birding -
Yesterday (Sunday, 13 March), all three expected merganser species were at Mill
Creek Lake, Amherst Co., just before sunset. Perhaps the single male Common
Merganser that I saw was the same that Robert Ferrell had seen earlier in the
day at nearby Stone House Lake. Also at Mill Creek Lake were some other duck
species, a Bald Eagle, Tree Swallows, 3 Horned Grebes (2 in transitional
plumages), and over 100 Ring-billed Gulls in a flock that made several passes
over the lake but never stopped.
Today's highlight was a group of four Long-tailed Ducks on Ivy Lake off
Perrowville Road in Bedford County. Also there this morning were the 5 expected
species of Aythya ducks, Red-breasted Mergansers, Horned Grebes and some other
species.
As for other signs of spring: many Ring-billed Gulls were passing overhead
today - I saw groups in Roanoke and Bedford cities and Roanoke and Craig
counties. I also saw Fox Sparrows in Bedford, Botetourt, and Craig counties,
and Tree Swallows in Bedford and Roanoke counties.
Mike Stinson
Dillwyn, VA
cms@xxxxxxxxx
You are subscribed to VA-BIRD. To post to this mailing list, simply send email
to va-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx. To unsubscribe, send email to
va-bird-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with 'unsubscribe' in the Subject field.