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?
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?
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?
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| 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?
P.S. The day after... on 5 March the light was better and I was able to count 43 Red-necked Grebes on the same two lakes.
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