Hola,
Woke up in Virginia for the first time this year and was able to check out a
few locations in Fauquier County in the afternoon. Twenty-two Canvasbacks
are on a medium sized lake near Warrenton, but otherwise waterfowl numbers are
very low compared to the Plains/Airlie CBC on 18 December, which was
essentially the last birding I did locally. All of the water is open, whereas
it
was mostly frozen for the CBC which certainly helped herd the ducks to the
larger ponds. A bald eagle pair was seen working on last year's nest aside
the
lake.
Nothing was on the water at Harrison Road, though there were probably a
thousand Canada Geese in the air to the north; an adult Bald Eagle was in the
dead tree on the side of the pond. Belvoir Pond held about 3000 Canada Geese,
and among them was a Snow Goose, and at least one Richardson's Goose; both of
those species are about equally common in Fauquier. A Mute Swan was here as
well, uncollared and while wild (that is no one seems to know if anyone owns
it), it's anyone's guess where it came from.
The Short-eared Owl spot at Rectortown had nine Harriers getting ready for
bed when I pulled up, and three Short-eareds were noted in the next twenty
minutes. Thanks to Val Kitchens for re-posting the directions. Also here
were
six American Tree Sparrows in the field, and the first Mourning Doves I saw
all day. A tribute to the mild weather was a Red Bat that flitted across the
field.
Cheers,
Todd
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Todd Michael Day
Jeffersonton, VA, USA
blkvulture@xxxxxxx
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