Saturday I kayaked with my sister Susan on Farnham Creek in Richmond
County. The day was gloriously sunny and the wind was light.We saw
several Great Blue Herons. A pair of Red-tailed Hawks rose out of a
wooded hill and circled up catching a thermal. An enormously long
ribbon of Blackbirds flew overhead twisting and turning against the
blue sky.
While Susan was catching a 2 1/2 pound Largemouth Bass and two big,
white perch I was snuggled up to the reeds squeaking to a Marsh Wren
who almost landed on my head. It seemed very curious and totally
unafraid. Three Bald Eagles flew by at different times. A wheeling
funnel of vultures, mostly Turkey with some Black, too, looked like
smoke rising from a fire but I suspect that the remains of
field-dressed deer were the draw.
A Northern Harrier skimmed by just over the tops of the reeds in the
marsh. Every season in a marsh is beautiful. Fall is exquisite.
Leaves, mahogany, ochre and orange, floated with the tide. Goldfinches
sang to each other in the top of the trees. Juncos scratched with
White-throated Sparrows in the leaf litter.
Leaving downtown Emmerton on Sunday I saw a Bald Eagle on a tree
overlooking Totuskey Creek. At George Washington Birthplace a Great
Blue Heron was walking along the Potomac River beach. A large raft of
Canada Geese was staged off to the northwest. Surf Scoters and
Bufflehead bobbed around. There were a couple of Common Loons diving
and feeding.
Two pairs of Bald Eagles sat close to each other in separate trees. As
I walked along the beach in the late afternoon sunlight I heard the
eagles calling and looked up to see an immature flying inland from the
river.
Lee Loudenslager Adams
Fredericksburg, VA
ladams42@xxxxxxx
