Hi All,
Eve Gaige and I headed out to the Highland & Bath County areas today in hopes
of finding a Golden Eagle and whatever else we could find. By the time the day
was over we were not disappointed. The highlight was finding a group of 5
WHITE-WINGED SCOTERS (2 adult males and what I believe were 2 females and 1
immature male) in the southern third of the huge lake at the Bath County Pump
Storage Facility. The scoters stayed fairly close to each other but definitely
separated off at times and were rarely a compact group of 5. Unfortunately
with many many trees between the only public road (Rte 600) and the lake
getting in-focus and ID-worthy photos is very difficult and digi-scoping with
Eve's iPhone seemed like the only feasible option. We got a few ID-worthy
shots and a few of the ones that I have uploaded can be found at:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/gabrielmapel/sets/72157641978020613/ I will ;
look through the photos more tomorrow and hope
that I find one that shows all 5 birds in one shot or a better shot of the
females or immature male. Below is a general trip report for the day:
We started off in McDowell where at the feeders we had 2 BCChickadees, 2
RWBlackbirds, 12 C. Grackles, 2 BHCowbird, 2 House Finch, 1 Purple Finch. In
the Blue Grass Valley we had highlights: 1 Golden Eagle (immature seen from top
of Wimer Mtn Rd soaring in West Virginia), 1 E. Screech-Owl (red-morph bird in
previously reported tree cavity), 1 Am. Kestrel, 1 Fox Sparrow (along Wimer
Mtn. Rd about 1 mile below top). Working south on Rte 640 we crossed Rte 250
and as we headed towards Rte 84 we spotted a raptor perched in a tree just east
of the road (near where the inactive this year(?) Bald Eagle nest is). It
turned out to be a subadult Golden Eagle and it gave great views (both perched
and flying) for 5+ minutes and as it flew out of sight 2 adult Golden & 1
immature Bald Eagles appeared above us!
On Rte 89 at Mill Gap on a pond on the west side of Rte 89 we spotted 4
Gadwall, 3 Mallard, 1 Hooded Merganser, and 1 Savannah Sparrow was nearby. At
the Bath County Pump Storage Facility we found (everything on the lower pond at
the campground other than the Scoters and the Black Ducks): 37 Canada Geese, 15
Gadwall, 2 Am. Black Ducks, 4 Canvasback, 23 Redhead, 142 RNDucks, 1 Greater
Scaup, 8 Lesser Scaup, the 5 WWScoters, 13 Buffleheads, 5 Hooded Mergansers, 1
Ruffed Grouse heard drumming, and 5 Wild Turkeys investigating a road-killed
6th Turkey). We finished up at Lake Moomaw where we had highlights: 29 Common
Mergansers, 32 RBMergansers, 1 PBGrebe, 2 B. Creepers, 2 GCKinglets, 1 Hermit
Thrush.
Good Birding,
Gabriel Mapel
New Hope, VA
