[Bristol-Birds] Parrot River Road - New River - Pulaski Co., Virginia
- From: "Ed Talbott" <etalbott@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: "Bristol Birders" <bristol-birds@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sat, 28 Feb 2004 23:17:14 -0500
Bristol Birders,
Michelle and I hit the road today in search of a couple of
species that had been reported on the New River near Radford -
specifically Greater Scaup and Canvasbacks. We headed out Rt.
460 through Bluefield and stopped at Glen Lyn. There we found a
large flock of Canada Geese, a couple of Hooded Mergansers, and
what appeared to be a juvenile Snow Goose with some Graylag
Geese. This goose had the black "grin patch" on the bill and
appeared to be a dark morph in transition from juvenile to adult
plumage. Our next stop was the Rt. 114 ponds at Fairlawn where
we spotted two Northern Shovelers (male and female) along with a
Gadwall and Mallards.
The New River at Parrot River Road was covered with birds.
Ring-billed Gulls were probably the most numerous and numbered in
the hundreds. We found several Hooded Mergansers, about 10
Redheads, 8 Common Goldeneyes, 10 Buffleheads, 4 American Black
Ducks, several Mallards, at least four Ring-necked Ducks, and a
large raft of scaup. After having scope views of what I
suspected were Greater Scaup on two different occasions in the
past I was determined to find the ones reported here earlier in
the week. Finally two female scaup entered my field of view at
the same time I was able to differentiate the two by head shape,
size of bill, and overall size. Michelle and I both found other
birds in the raft that matched the field marks of Greater Scaup.
Finally we decided to add this bird to our life list. We
searched long and hard for the Canvasbacks reported here but
could not find them.
Our next stop was Byllesby Dam on the New River. The only
waterfowl we could find on the lake were a dozen Mallards. We
had found some early swallows in March of last year but did not
find any today. Heading out Rt. 94 near Fort Chiswell we passed
a large farm pond with geese on it. The farm owners were feeding
them and one small white goose stood out among the Graylags and
the Canada Geese. It was a Snow Goose and the owners told us
that a flock of Snow Geese had passed through in the winter and
this goose had decided to stay at the pond.
A nice meal at Applebee's finished up a great day of birding.
Ed Talbott
Buchanan County, Virginia
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