Bears and teal

When the weekend started I was still looking for a Green-winged Teal in the county for 2014, and finding one was a goal for Saturday's birding. On Wednesday I'd made a short trip into Charlotte County and birded briefly at one lake – and it had three Green-winged Teal on it. Nice to see, and my first anywhere for the year, but mildly frustrating at the same time. On Saturday I checked at least 12 lakes of all sizes in Prince Edward County, from the largest (Briery Creek) to some small but frequently productive ponds to some medium-sized ones in between (the Goldilocks approach, I guess). After checking about seven or eight lakes, I'd added two species to my 2014 county list, bringing it to 106, but still hadn't found the teal.

I decided to check a lake that I seldom visit because it isn't very accessible, requiring a hike in from a back road. On the walk I saw an adult Bald Eagle fly by, but not much else, and on the lake I found only four cormorants. Oh well, I thought, and turned to go.

About 100 feet back up the trail – which was actually a washed-out, muddy old road – I noticed a bear track in the soft soil. Cool, I thought; I took out my phone and took a picture. You could even see the marks from a couple of the claws.

Bear track... a very FRESH bear track....

A few feet away I saw another track, then as I walked along I found several more; wow, I wondered, how did I miss those on the way down? Then I noticed one of my boot tracks and one of the bear tracks overlapping and decided to take another picture. As I leaned over to get closer for the picture, I noticed that the heel of my bootprint was smudged – because it had been stepped on by the bear.

I'd only been at the lake for about 10 minutes. Had the bear simply watched me walk by from the trees, then headed up the road in the opposite direction? Had I spooked him away from the lake shore? I'll never know. I never saw the bear, though after finding its track atop mine I got out the video camera and was hoping to record at least a brief glimpse. But I am blaming the bear for scaring all the ducks off the lake before I got there. Thanks, bear.

As for the Green-winged Teal... I saw six at Sandy River Reservoir this evening, one of three new species for the year there today, taking my Prince Edward total to 109 for the year.

Slowly, slowly

I'm adding new birds to the year list slowly, slowly, but surely. Two have appeared this week, Osprey and Northern Shoveler. Ospreys were just a matter of time, since they nest in several places in the county, and in recent years I have been seeing the first ones return in late February. Not this year. But after being away from the county for a couple of days, I saw three on Monday, 10 March. Two of these were a pair at one of last year's nests, and they were already busy preparing for the coming nesting season. I watched one bird trying to break limbs from a tree, and then a little later saw one of the pair flying to the nest carrying a branch.


Although this has been a remarkable winter for ducks, there are still a few I have not seen in the county this year that should be findable. One that I was able to add to the list yesterday was Northern Shoveler. I was taking a quick look at a pond in eastern Prince Edward County when I saw a chestnut-bellied duck circling the pond, almost landing on it, then gaining elevation and flying away to the south. I could identify it as a male Northern Shoveler, but I was hoping for a better look. When I saw it head to the south I suspected it might be going to another pond just out of sight in that direction. I drove to a spot where I could scan that pond, and there he was.

Number 103: Northern Shoveler, 12 March 2014. Cell phone digiscope.

In addition to these new species for the Prince Edward big year, I've seen several other good birds in the past week. Highlights include Red-necked Grebes in Albemarle, Amherst, Appomattox, Bedford, and Buckingham counties and the city of Buena Vista, as well as the continued presence of many on the Prince Edward lakes. I was shown an active Bald Eagle nest in Rockbridge County last Saturday, and perhaps the biggest surprise came later the same day at Thrashers Lake in Amherst County, when I spotted an immature Golden Eagle circling over the lake just as I arrived.

Red-necked Grebe bonanza

A few days ago I saw two Red-necked Grebes (RNGRs) at Briery Creek Lake and then another at Sandy River Reservoir in the same afternoon and realized that this was a county high count - before the past few weeks, all our county records had been of single birds. Then this morning Evan Spears posted a note about seeing five RNGRs at Sandy River Reservoir and I sent him a quick note about setting another high count. Little did I know.

This afternoon, enough of our most recent snowfall had melted that I was able to get my Jeep out and go check the lakes myself, along with my son Jeremy. From the main Sandy River Reservoir boat ramp area I saw four RNGRs, but could also see several "interesting" blobs far up the lake, too far to resolve with my scope. I drove to another viewing area and started to scan the lake and was amazed to count six... eight... 13... and eventually 22 more RNGRs. These were all definitely identified in the scope, and there were still a few little blurry blobs that I couldn't identify for sure due to the distortion and distance... maybe even more grebes. This was amazing... 26 RNGRs on one lake in Prince Edward County?

Distant... fuzzy... Red-necked Grebes on Sandy River Reservoir. Fortunately the view through my scope was clearer.

From Sandy River I drove to Briery Creek Lake by way of some back roads along which we saw three Wilson's Snipe as well as a flock of blackbirds that were mostly Rusties... at least 80 and probably well over 100, and a nice find for the Rusty Blackbird Blitz that is going on this month. At Briery, we went first to the route 701 boat ramp and saw five more RNGRs along with a few Buffleheads. Then we drove up to the Causeway parking area, scanned the lake again, and saw seven more RNGRs. This made 12 RNGRs on Briery Creek Lake, and a total of 38 on the two lakes for the afternoon. Who knows how many more were out there on other lakes; who knows how many might have been on Kerr Reservoir or Smith Mountain Lake today?

little white geese

Normally if I see little white geese in a pond with Canada Geese I suspect they're some sort of domestic waterfowl, and once I look closely at them that's what they prove to be. I was happy that the little white geese I spotted last Tuesday morning with a Canada Goose flock just south of Farmville were Ross's Geese -- a first for Prince Edward County and so also a new year bird, number 101. While number 100, Pine Warbler, was predictable (see last post), number 101 certainly was not! And so our strange winter continues a little longer.

Ross's Geese south of Farmville, 25 Feb 2014

A milder surprise this week was that an Osprey had not returned to Briery Creek Lake as of Thursday evening. The last two years one has been back there by the end of February. That species is now a candidate for number 102... perhaps later today. But I'd be happy with another rare duck or goose, too.