Greetings,
This morning about 9 am I noticed a sizable raft of ducks
at the mouth of Peak creek on Claytor lake. It contained 175 Red-breasted
Mergansers, 39 lesser Scaup, and 8 Horned Grebes. 175 Red-breasted
mergansers if accepted would be a new peak count record for the mountain and
valley
section of Virginia per the "Goldbook". The most that had been seen
before were 129 in Botetourt County on 04-15-83.
Good Birding!
Mark Mullins
Claytor Lake, Va