Last Monday I had a male and female Hooded merganser, yesterday at
6:45 I had 4 males and one female in the lake behind my house. I also have
an Osprey or two that are hanging around the area. Yesterday morning as I
looked out the back glass door to the lake I saw ducks, but one looked
different. I grabbed the binocs and saw three Mallards and a Widgeon. On
further checking I noticed the top of the bird's head was not as light and
it had a large white band on the side of the body. It definite had a
Widgeon's bill with the dark tip. I saw him up out of the water and the
white wing patches showing were very clear. I ran to my car to get the scope
and when I came back the Widgeon was gone but the Mallards were there.
I have lived in Tenn and Florida and have seen lots of waterfowl
over the years. What I saw looked just like the picture of the Eurasian
Widgeon in the Audubon Guide. We had terrible rain and storms with gusts of
wind during the night, this bird must have come in at that time. The
behavior that I observed was like what the book described: one solitary
Widgeon with Mallards. At times the other ducks seemed unhappy with his
presence and kept swimming away.
The birdwatchers in Lynchburg should check the three small lakes
around the Lake Vista subdivision in Forest. I live in one of the condos in
front of Hutter Lake, on the left side. I tried to send this e-mail
yesterday, but VA-bird does not take attachments. I teach all day tomorrow,
but if someone finds it please let me know.The battery in my video was low,
so I could not tape it.
The White Egret with one leg shorter than the other seemed to have died or
was killed in the other small lake in the same area. One woman told me she
found a dead bird with white feathers dead on the shore. Last time I saw it
was on Oct. 1st the night of the freeze,
Elena Killian
You are subscribed to VA-BIRD. To post to this mailing list, simply send email
to va-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx. To unsubscribe, send email to
va-bird-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with 'unsubscribe' in the Subject field.
