We had seventeen birders turn out on an unseasonably warm late January Sunday
morning for our walk at the Floodwall section of James River Park. The focal
point of winter walks along the river downtown are gulls. We had a healthy
smattering of Great Black-backed, Herring and Ring-billed Gulls on Sunday,
along with one possible Lesser Black-backed, though that bird did not give us a
clear enough look to confirm that ID. There were nice looks at Great Blue
Herons, both perched on the Floodwall and in fairly close flybys. We found a
large concentration of Double-crested Cormorants on the rocks and in the river
just below the Manchester Bridge. As the morning warmed, there was a good
flight of Black Vultures that lifted off from their roost on the the power
pylon on the north side of the river. We had good, close looks at a
Red-shouldered Hawk and an American Kestrel, along with good numbers of Song
and White Throated Sparrows in the brush on the back side of the Floodwall. An
entertaining Eastern Phoebe sallied after insects from the small trees
bordering the train yard. We had a late flyover from an almost-but-not-quite
adult Bald Eagle as we were returning to the parking lot.
A few souls who weren’t suffering from gull overload made a brief stop at the
Brown Island observation platform. We found a few Pied-billed Grebes there, and
got brief looks between the buildings at a soaring Peregrine Falcon.
Photos will be posted on the Richmond Audubon Facebook page,
https://www.facebook.com/RichmondAudubon
Complete checklist:
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S27229301&share=true
If you would like for me to share the checklist with you on eBird, just send me
email with your eBird handle.
--
Lewis Barnett
blbarnett3@xxxxxxxxx
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