I was up early this morning and decided to run down to Cumberland and
spend the early morning. It was a gorgeous morning and there seemed to
be quite a bit of bird activity in the wooded areas. First sighting was
a group of 12 turkeys near the gate. I think they were a family group,
but the babies are as big as the parents now. Next was a nice surprise,
as an extremely large juvenile bald eagle was resting on on of the trees
on the entrance road to Cumberland. It flew off toward the water and I
never did locate it again.
I walked out on the dock and the water area was very quiet. The water
level was high and about the only movement was turtles and a few fish.
I headed back and took the vehicle down to the dam end of the property.
There seemed to be quite a bit of bird activity in the bean field and
they would move back and forth between the woods and the field. I
parked a couple times and sat and watched and waited and was rewarded
several times with groups of birds coming in. Please look at pics 7-11
and see if you know what this bird is....I thought it was a blue-grey
gnatcatcher, but if you look closely, it is cross-billed. Not sure if
it is something different or injured.
If you enjoy dragon flies and butterflies, they were everywhere. I
think I got 7 different color/varieties of dragonflies today.
Pics are at:
http://www.fototime.com/users/bhouston@xxxxxxxxxxx/Cumberland,%20New%20Kent
Birds seen:
Turkeys - 12
Bald eagle - 1
Blue Grosbeak - 4
Goldfinches - 12
Cardinal - 4
Mockingbirds - 1
Great crested flycatcher - 3
Red-eyed Vireo -2 ( I think...see pictures)
Tufted Titmouse
Carolina Wren - 6
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher - 4
A yellow bird (Looks like a yellow warbler, but has a light colored
beak...so I am not sure...see pictures)
Lots of starlings and little brown birds bouncing in the beans.
Barbara Houston
New Kent, VA
