Cackling Goose (front)
The past couple of days have been very cold, with night time temperatures around 10 degrees. I did a little hiking here in Old Trail, and noticed that very few birds were out and about. Hopefully, they were just hunkered down, and were surviving the cold temperatures. When I got to the golf course pond, I saw that most of it was frozen except for a central area about 100 feet in diameter. There were about 200 Canada Geese in the water at the edge of the unfrozen part, and most of them had their heads tucked in to stay warm. I took a few photos, and after processing them, noticed that there was a Cackling Goose (similar to Canada, but much smaller with a stubby bill) mixed in with the flock. There may have be more than one Cackling Goose, as I have two different photos of this species, but it may have been the same bird, and without seeing the bills of those geese with tucked heads, it's hard to tell if there were others. This was my Old Trail species #124.
Cackling Goose (front)
Cackling Goose (front)
Walt Childs and I went west into the Shenandoah Valley to look for raptors and whatever other birds might be there. There had been snow west of the Allegheney Mountains, and we wondered if some of the raptors from that side would be in the valley foraging for a meal. It was warmer today, with afternoon temperatures that just made it above freezing. I had trouble all day trying to get photos that had good focus. I wonder if getting in and out of a warm car to take shots was causing my camera lens to fog, but didn't think of that while we were birding. We didn't see many smaller birds, but we saw quite a few raptors: Red-tailed Hawks (10); Red-shouldered Hawks (2); Cooper's Hawk (1); Northern Harriers (2); American Kestrels (8). We searched a bit for the Mt. Crawford Snowy Owl, but did not see it.
Red-tailed Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
Red-shouldered Hawk
Male Northern Harrier
Female Northern Harrier
Female Northern Harrier
American Kestrel
American Kestrels
American Kestrels
American Kestrels
White-crowned Sparrow
We stopped at the pond in Fishersville where Greater White-fronted Geese had been reported. This species is a rare winter visitor east of the Mississippi River. We saw a Great Blue Heron, a good-sized flock of Canada Geese, and seven Greater White-fronted Geese.
Great Blue Heron
Greater White-fronted Geese
Greater White-fronted Geese
Greater White-fronted Geese
Greater White-fronted Geese
Greater White-fronted Goose
A major snow-storm made its way up the east coast, but the snow did not make it west of Richmond, so it was fairly sunny here. But the storm also ushered in very cold temperatures and strong winds. I felt badly for my birding friends on the coast, and this time wondered if any of the coastal avian species might have come here. I did a little birding here around 10 a.m., but although it was about 20 degrees, the wind chill must have been close to zero. I went over to the golf course pound, and there must have been 300 to 400 Canada Geese there - more than half in the open water area, and the rest on the far bank just below the first golf tee box. I really only wanted to test out may camera to check that it was focusiing properly, and the results were better today. I didn't see any Cackling Geese, but didn't spend a lot of time in the very cold wind. The next couple of days are supposed to be even colder. How many days until spring??
Field Sparrow