I did a short birding stop at Burke Lake Park Saturday afternoon to scan the
lake for waterfowl.
Outside of the park on the adjacent road on the drive in, we saw a Norther
Harrier engaging in an air battle with another hawk (perhaps a 2nd harrier?),
but we also saw at least two Red Shouldered Hawks near by.
On the lake, Common Mergansers were numerous (~100) as well as Scaup (~50) and
a handful of Hooded Mergansers. Another gentleman was there with a scope and
pointed out a Red Necked Grebe directly off from the dock (and we later found a
2nd far off on the other side of the lake). He said that under an hour before,
he was watching the grebe in his binoculars when one of the Bald Eagles (from
the nest across from the dock) swept down and picked up the grebe, flying with
it for about 20 feet before it wriggled free. The eagle did not come back for
it and while I was there, we did not see the eagle again.
Of other note was a fly-over of two tundra swans (in formation, as far as 2 can
form) with a 3rd on the formation being a Canada Goose - nice to see they were
all buddies.
-Renee Grebe
Alexandria, VA
