Tommy Roth and founding members Alex Robbins and
Cody Vaughan joined me on a trip to the ponds
along route 3 near King George Jan 29. We
arrived at about 1:30 and left at about 4:45.
The ponds were mostly frozen and the waterfowl
numbers were lower than usual. Still, there were
some good concentrations in the little bit of
open water in three of the ponds. The most
exciting sighting of the day was an interaction
between a harrier, a red-tail, 2 crows, and an
immature bald eagle. It was quite amazing to
watch. The harrier was flying around with
something black in her talons: a starling?
redwing? a large vole?. As she flew off with it,
a red-tail dropped out of the sky to chase her.
Then two crows harassed the red-tail, the four
birds weaved and danced around each other gaining
elevation. Then the eagle came out of nowhere
and hassled the harrier. We were all
simultaneously struck by the size difference
between the harrier and the eagle. They climbed
higher and higher. It surprised us to see the
harrier going higher to evade the eagle rather
than flying low to the ground or hiding in some
trees. Twice we thought the harrier itself was
going to be eagle-lunch, but the harrier's
agility allowed it dodge away at the last second.
Finally the harrier gave up and dropped her prey
which fell into a small patch of woods where
neither the eagle nor the harrier could retrieve
it. We figured it would be a midnight snack for
a fox or a raccoon later that night. We
understood why Ben Franklin did not want the bald
eagle as our national bird. The eagle left the
harrier alone who then flew to a sheltered bank
of the pond to rest for awhile.
Other highlights were...
1. well over a hundred sparrows including a scope
view of a cooperative tree sparrow, and some very
dapper white-crowned sparrows. Also song, swamp,
savannah, junco, field, and mostly white-throats.
2. A cackling (Richardson's) goose among about
2100 Canadas
3. 4 magnificent adult bald eagles: one on a huge
nest and three in a nearby tree.
Other waterfowl included:
pied-billed grebe 5
coot 71
ruddy duck 17 male 68 female
hooded merganser 1 male, 3 female
common merganser 1 female
red-breasted merganser 1 male
bufflehead 7 male, 5 female
mallard about 10 pair
green-winged teal 1 pair
shoveler 8
gadwall 9 male 2 female
american wigeon 7 male, 7 female
canvasback about 25 male, 15 female
redhead 14 male, 4 female
ring-necked duck 230 male, 35 female
lesser scaup 6 male, 6 female
no swans or black ducks
hundreds of ring-billed gulls
a dozen or so herring gulls
We also saw 1 great blue heron and quite a few
raptors:
6 red-tails, 1 kestrel, 3 harriers, 6 bald eagles
PS. We were standing on the grass about 3 feet
off of La Grange Rd to look into the pond. The
landowner came out and told us to stay on the
road. We politely apologized and put our feet
and tripod legs on the pavement. Please keep this
in mind when visiting this pond.
The next teen bird club trip will be in the
morning on Saturday February 12.
All the best
fred
=====
Frederick D. Atwood fredatwood@xxxxxxxxx
Flint Hill School, 10409 Academic Dr, Oakton, VA 22124
703-242-1675
http://www.agpix.com/fredatwood
http://www.flinthill.org
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