Having returned from a week-long trip to Oklahoma Monday night Dec. 2nd, I
drove out Tuesday afternoon looking for the Ross' Geese that had been seen in
this area while I was away. Not having knowledge at the time of the pond
behind
the White Birch Estates Assisted Living facility off Oakwood Lane, I looked
everywhere in that general area except there, and could not find the birds
anywhere despite repeated circling past other places where they had been seen.
Then that evening I saw Jon Little's posting saying he had seen them in that
particular pond during that morning. Wednesday afternoon I went directly there
and saw the two adult birds (I assume the immature individual was down over the
bank where I could not see it). They were resting on the near bank and after
some time stretched their heads up out of their backfeathers and allowed me
an easy identification using only binoculars from inside my vehicle. There was
also a handsome drake Hooded Merganser present with all the other pond
waterfowl, plus many Canada Geese.
Next morning (Thursday the 4th) Leonard Teuber called to inform me that he
had just seen all 3 of the Ross's Geese on Silver Lake near Dayton. So they
still move around some, but White Birch seems to be a favored spot from what I
heard that night at the Rockingham Bird Club meeting. It is 0.6 miles west of
Highway 11 on Oakwood Lane (County Route 704), on the left (south) side of the
road as you approach the town of Bridgewater. Drive straight in through the
parking lot to the back of the facility and the pond is ahead of you, and you
can see much of it without even leaving your car. The management there knows
about the birds and has been friendly to birders coming to look.
It remains to be seen how the present snowstorm (6 inches already with more
to come) has affected these birds. White on white, if they're still here!
Incidentally, we still have a Selasphorus hummingbird present in Grottoes, in
the same yard where we had a Rufous last year. Another one of our last
year's yards, this one near Massanetta Springs, also had a Selasphorus from
October
24 to November 13. For more information contact me directly:
JMIrvine@xxxxxxx.
John Irvine
Harrisonburg, VA
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