On Saturday's Lynchburg CBC I encountered a Merlin on a farm in Campbell
County. It gave excellent views, flying in across a field to land within 75
feet of where I was standing in a hedgerow, staying about 10 minutes, and
allowing me to circle around its position to put the sun at my back to enjoy
better views. It eventually flew off back across the field. The winds that
day, combined with a high temperature only in the low 40s, kept my songbird
count down, but another decent sighting was a single grackle found foraging
along a small creek. Two female bufflehead on a pond near the Lynchburg
airport were my third best sighting for the day.
This morning I spotted a single Fox Sparrow in my yard in town, the first I
have seen this season.
Good birding,
Gene Sattler
Lynchburg
