Bald Eagles
Walt Childs and I helped out with the Gordonsville Christmas Bird Count (Audubon Scociety) a month ago. It was rainy that day, so we decided to visit the area again. It was supposed to be sunny, but windy, all day long, but we encountered light snow flurries when we arrived, and there was off and on sunshine during the day.
We started out down Green Springs Road, and soon saw a pair of Bald Eagles, one an adult, and the other appeared to be a Basic I sub-adult, but it was hard to see them in the poor light. The younger bird took off, but the adult landed in a nearby tree, and then took off a few minutes later.
Bald Eagles
Bald Eagle
Bald Eagle
Bald Eagle
Bald Eagle
Bald Eagle
Bald Eagle
A bit farther down the road, we saw the first of three Red-tailed Hawks for the day.
Red-tailed Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
We made a stop a Brackett's Farm, saw a few woodland birds, and only a few ducks at the far end of the lake. They looked like possible Mallards, and we decided not to hike the long distance to verify.
Mallards(?)
We made our way north to Gordonsville, and then south to Lake Gordonsville, but didn't see any birds there.
Our last stop was at Hawkwood Farm. We were looking into the sun from Jack Jouett Road, and saw a large flock of Canada Geese and a few ducks. Two of the ducks looked like Hooded Mergansers from their silhouette, and another pair of ducks may have been Canvasbacks from their shape and color.
Hooded Mergansers
We only logged 24 species, but had an enjoyable outing:
Canada Goose
Hooded Merganser
Canvasback ?
Mallard ?
Turkey Vulture
Black Vulture
Red-tailed Hawk
Bald Eagle
American Kestrel
Killdeer
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
Northern Flicker
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Blue Jay
American Crow
Carolina Wren
Eastern Bluebird
European Starling
Northern Cardinal
Dark-eyed Junco
White-throated Sparrow
American Robin
Hermit Thrush
Eastern Meadowlark
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