Evan and I arrived at the Gladys locality to look for the kites at 10:45
a.m. on Saturday; we stayed for nearly two hours and never saw a single
kite. Had a nice visit with a small group from Chatham Academy. A hike
around the fields yielded many juv. bluebirds, Bundigos, Chippies,
meadowlarks, waxwings, and a FLOCK of 17 Eastern Kingbirds (kind of
unusual). Best bird was a single Grasshopper Sparrow.
Staunton View yielded 30 Black Terns, 24 Forsters Terns, one Osprey, one
Bald Eagle, lots of Killdeer, about 20 Great Egrets and a much smaller
very distant white heron, probably an imm. Little Blue.
Kerr Dam had little to offer but whitecaps, a few cormorants and Great
Blue Herons.
Despite the rain and wind, we decided to make a final stop at Sandy
River Reservoir just outside of Farmville. We were rewarded with
excellent views of two SOOTY TERNS, one imm. and one adult. A county
record, according to the Farmville annotated checklist. See Mike
Stinson's earlier report.
David Spears
Dillwyn
