Greetings,
Prompted by the note from Dave Davis about the swans at Harrison Road, I
headed out there yesterday to see if any of these birds were still present.
The
only white birds present were two immature Tundra Swans, so I can't be of
help trying to figure out what the others were.
Also present on the pond were a hen and drake Blue-winged Teal, 10
Green-winged Teal, 20 Ring-necked Ducks, 8 Bufflehead, 6 American Wigeon, 2
Gadwall,
and about two-thousand Canada Geese. I checked these for the White-fronted,
but was unable to find it. Across the street in the wet area, about twenty
Wilson's Snipe shot out of the mud as I parked.
The pond on Belvoir Road is starting to refill after the dam work had been
done in the last couple of weeks. Water probably covers about 40% of the mud
now, but only a couple feet deep. There were no birds around it.
Two transitioning Horned Grebes, ten Canvasbacks, 14 Common Mergansers, and
eight Lesser Scaup were among the more expected ducks on a private pond near
Warrenton.
I visited the Short-eared Owl spot near Rectortown last evening, arriving
there at about five-twenty. There were ten of them perched in trees when I
arrived, and by the time I had left I had tallied fifteen. My high count here
was of thirty birds 25 Feb. It's difficult to determine whether or not some
have moved on, or if they're just roosting in other locations. It will also
be interesting to see whether any will stick around and breed here. I've been
told by a couple of the local residents that the fields often don't get cut,
as it is muddy enough in places to keep heavy farm equipment out of them.
Lastly, after reporting four Eastern Phoebes last week, I've not seen a
single one since, including the locations that I saw the four birds in.
Erin go bragh!
Todd
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Todd Michael Day
Jeffersonton, Virginia, USA
BlkVulture@xxxxxxx
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