Hola,
Prompted by Ron Vogel's excellent and timely report of a Say's Phoebe at Sky
Meadows State Park today, I headed that way to further push my luck of seeing
other people's birds. Happily, I found the phoebe working the east end of the
Lost Mountain (bridle area) parking lot. I followed the bird after it flew down
the gravel path, and caught up with it again as it foraged along the trail
north between two parallel wire fences. It eventually made its way up to the
shelter that covers a couple tractors. It was foraging loosely with Eastern
Bluebirds. Eventually I lost the bird and retreated to the parking area.
I found the bird again working the fence at the east edge of the lot, but it
soon flew to the silo and was gleaning insects off the side of it, occasionally
perching atop the barn. I was then joined by Perri Borowiecki, and we watched
the bird hunt the parking area again for a few minutes. The bird then perched
high in a bare tree, and took off. We followed its flight in scopes for a solid
two minutes as the bird flew due east and became too small to track. Perhaps it
likes a spot over there for roosting and will return to forage tomorrow. Or
perhaps it is over Washington DC right now.
Also seen was a relatively close flyover swan that by size and bill shape/size
seemed to be a Trumpeter, but it landed in a pond away from our position and we
didn't pursue it or get another look at it. There was also a small brown goose
among a line of Canada Geese, which was probably a Cackling Goose, but we
didn't see it well.
eBird checklist is below. I'll link a few photos to the list later Wednesday
night.
Cheers,
Todd
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Todd Michael Day
blkvulture@xxxxxxx
Jeffersonton, VA
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Sent from my iPhone
