On Monday, January 16, I decided to foray around the Stonewall area of
Appomattox County.
I did not see a great variety of tweety birds. Wanted to find some kinglets
but no luck for many weeks. In traveling down a back road through a farm
area with vast pasture I came upon 3 birds only about 10 yards from the road.
I stopped immediately and 2 of the birds flew away - crows. The third bird
stayed right there and looked me over. It was a northern harrier which had
just made a kill and was enjoying the feast. I have never seen one of these
birds so close and for such a long time -about 10 minutes. I was able to
really study this bird, the colors and arrangements of all it's feathers and
most
interesting of all, the very unual face and bill structure of this raptor. I
had seen a northern harrier in this field about 2 years ago but soaring
around not perched. This was an exciting and very rewarding experience for
me.
Earlier in the morning,during a brief period of sunshine I had seen a
bird in a field that I thought for a moment was a crow sitting there. I
stopped anyway and got the binocs on it and it was a hawk. Hunkered down in a
depression in the field. Got the scope out for a better look but the heat
distortion coming off a large plowed field made viewing very difficult. Bird
did
not seem to be eating prey but just sitting in the sun. When it finally flew,
I could see that it was a sharpie. Had not seen this behavior before.
Other birds seen:
Yellow bellied sapsucker
legions of robins
white throats
Yellow rumps
Song sparrows
Kestrel
Red Tail
Flock of purple finches in my yard: 13
Ceder Waxwings
No canada geese (incredible)
