99 and holding...

I mentioned signs of spring in my last post, and the past few days I've seen them everywhere I've been birding. Male Red-winged Blackbirds are back and singing at small ponds around the county. A few Double-crested Cormorants are back at Briery Creek Lake. On Friday I saw my first Tree Swallow for the year, and then saw 19 at Briery Creek on Saturday morning. I've seen many flocks of grackles and other blackbirds the past few days. All this plus the recent warmer temperatures, calling chorus frogs and a spring peeper, and the first few moths of the year, suggest that the winter duck bonanza is coming to a close, even though a female Long-tailed Duck was still at Sandy River until at least Friday, and flocks of Red-breasted Mergansers remain at both Briery and Sandy River this weekend as well.

The Tree Swallows I mentioned represented species 99 for the year in Prince Edward County.  Number 97 was American Woodcock, seen and heard displaying a few nights ago, and another sign of spring, and number 98 was Wood Duck. After not seeing Wood Ducks in January or early February, I saw them in two places on Friday. I might have made it to 100 for the big year on Saturday, but got a call about a jaeger at Kerr Dam in Mecklenburg County and immediately headed down there. Not a bad distraction -- 100 can wait a little longer! While watching the jaeger I saw and heard a few other species that are new for the year and that I might not see in the county in 2014, including Brown-headed Nuthatch and Lesser Black-backed Gull.

Good candidates for number 100... Pine Warbler, Osprey, Sharp-shinned Hawk, or another duck... despite the great duck show I still need a few species, such as the teal, for the year.

Slowing down

The past week has been a slow one for birding in the county, quite a change from the end of January. Once most of the ice melted on the lakes the duck numbers dropped quite a bit, though a few interesting ones are still around. As of this afternoon, at least one White-winged Scoter was still at both Sandy River Reservoir and Briery Creek Lake, as well as several Greater Scaup at each lake. There's also at least one Red-breasted Merganser at Sandy River. But the Canvasbacks and Redheads have mostly disappeared, nearly all the Hooded Mergansers seem to have gone (presumably back to smaller lakes), and the numbers of grebes have dropped as well.

gull on ice... Sandy River Reservoir... 8 Feb 2014

So far my only new bird for the year in February was the Great Horned Owl that I saw last night. I was able to locate him in my scope and briefly watch him(?) watching me. I spent some time today looking for other owls -- mainly a Long-eared Owl -- which is a low-percentage proposition (look in a lot of trees, and a very low percentage have an owl in them). I have found a few Long-eared Owls this way in the past, but never in Prince Edward County. I did find a patch of whitewash and a couple of reasonably fresh owl pellets... but not their source.

Although my cold fingers tell me it's still winter, a few subtle signs of spring are showing. The days are getting longer, of course. I've seen two flocks of blackbirds flying overhead the past couple of days, and both days have heard Mourning Doves actively calling. But for now... it's still pretty quiet. And I wouldn't be surprised if we got another round of cold weather and maybe a few more interesting waterbirds on the big lakes before the spring really hits.

One Month Done

January is over, and I have not birded quite so much in January in a long time. No long trips, but lots of Prince Edward County back roads....


Waterbirds – geese, ducks, swans, loons, and grebes – have been the big story so far this year, for me locally as well as across the state and region. There seems to be a strong correlation between the cold weather to our north and northwest, and perhaps more specifically to the ice cover on the Great Lakes, and the appearance of these birds in our area.

Mute Swans and ducks at Sandy River Reservoir, 31 Jan 2014
cell phone digiscope

The appearance of scoters and Red-necked Grebes makes me think this way, and I wonder whether the Mute Swans I saw yesterday are also from the Great Lakes area.

Some stats: I finished January with 94 species in the county. Of these, nine were single sightings of single individuals, but only one of those, Red-necked Grebe, is a bird I can't expect to see again in the county this year (or decade – the last one I saw there was in 2003). All the others are either owls – which required night birding – or birds that are rare in winter but should be much more common as migrants or breeders (e.g. Bonaparte's Gull, Fish Crow, Gray Catbird, House Wren and others).


I also saw five species that I only found once, but which were represented by multiple (two or more) individuals. Of these, Purple Finch (a group of five) is a bit of a surprise, but only in comparison to other winters. Normally they are around; this winter they are (mostly) not. Mute Swan and Red-throated Loon, represented by two individuals each, were both surprises and cannot be counted on again this year (or any year) in the county. Wilson's Snipe (also two) is more common as a migrant; I got lucky and saw a couple by the side of the road, but I count on seeing more in spring. Rusty Blackbirds (a flock of 32) are usually present in the county in the winter, but are a bit tricky to find some winters. That combined with their ongoing population crash (read more here) always makes me glad to see them.


One of the 94 species, White-winged Scoter, had not previously been documented in the county, but in the past month has gone from being unknown here to being the scoter with the most reports in the county. This reflects an ongoing event in Virginia and adjacent states where dozens of White-winged Scoters have been appearing – up to 50 or more on the Ohio River at Louisville (I saw only one there while living and birding in Louisville for over eight years). And another species, Red-throated Loon, might or might not have been seen here before, but had not been definitely documented (anyone who knows otherwise – please send me details!).


What's next? As always, that largely depends on the weather. I still need a few resident birds for the year list (Red-headed Woodpecker, Great Horned Owl), but I am not stressed about finding them. A few more rare waterbirds would be nice. A rare owl would, too. But so would warm weather! I'm tired of birding with cold, aching fingers....