All - I headed out this morning for a short birding outing. Earlier this
morning, I found a Merlin at the Ponds housing development, which is just
outside of Lexington. The front ponds are still frozen over, but the quarry is
about 40% open water. On the quarry there were Redheads, Ring-necks, Mallard,
Coots, a pair of Hooded Mergansers, and at least 1 Canvasback (an uncommon duck
in Rockbridge Co). After the Ponds, I went to Willow lake near Raphine- it is
nearly frozen over and there were only a few Canada Geese on the upper pond. I
went to McCormick's Farm (near Raphine VA, exit 205 on I-81) to look for the
Snow Goose that Kerry Killday reported the other day. As he noted, the bird
appears to be an immature in transition to adult plumage or it is a blue phase
- white phase mix. The Snow Goose was at the front pond, actually in the grass
by the lower parking lot. I was able to get some very up-close photos using
the car as a photography blind (cars work great for this). I've posted a few
photos on Flickr if you're interested.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/vmibiology/
Dick Rowe
VMI Biology Dept.
