On an afternoon trip to Christopher Farms to hunt for last years Eurasian
Wigeon...once again....he was not found. Twice we have visited the area and in
both cases the ducks were few and far between. The only ducks on the lake were
Mallards and oh yes a couple of Coots. Perhaps they have found better feeding
grounds.
On to Stumpy Lake Golf Course which had much more activity. Driving in the
entrance on the right side of the road were about a dozen Great Blue Herons.
These birds are easy to see in Virginia Beach, but to see them in such numbers
was nice. The same body of water also held: Mallards, Black Ducks, Wood Ducks,
Northern Shovelers, Coots and a Pied-billed Grebe. The area around the club
house brought out a nice variety of woodpeckers in a very short time:
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, Downy, Flickers and Red-bellied. Chickadees,
White-breasted
and Brown-headed Nuthatches played in the pines. A Young Bald Eagle soared
overhead before we went back out to the entrance road. We had been looking for
the
Anhinga. There were very few D C Cormorants around the lake and the Fish Crows
seemed to have taken over their favorite roosting places. Finally, just
before leaving (around 2:30) the Anhinga flew over the same body of water where
the
G B Herons were. It was quite a sight with it's long out-stretched drooping
neck. It flew just above the tree tops and then disappeared as it continued
north.
Karen & Tom Beatty
Virginia Beach. VA
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