Greetings,
This evening around dusk (five-fifteen on the clock), Perri Borowiecki and
I watched two Short-eared Owls flying slowly and high over the field to the
southerly side of Harrison Road (Route 750), on the eastern end (where the
pond is). A little over a week ago I had noticed six or eight Northern
Harriers seemingly going to a roost in the fields where we saw the
Short-eareds, and I was hoping that we'd find them there this winter. At one
point a
Short-eared put down on a treetop. We saw no harriers tonight, but light
was waning and we were still watching the milling Canada Geese around
Harrison Road as we noticed the Short-eareds.
Another way to see this spot, and probably the better way in terms of
viewing, is from the western end of Mount Eccentric Road (Route 758). One could
park off to the side there, walk to and then cross the main road (Old
Tavern Road, Route 245), and stand along the pasture fence and look west. The
Harriers and the Short-eareds were seen on a field bordered by Old Tavern
Road, and loosely bordered by Harrison Road. The eBird link below has a dot
in the middle of the field where the birds were seen. The one
consideration is that Old Tavern gets a bit of traffic, especially on
weeknights at
that time of day. Viewing from Harrison might be quieter, safer, though
perhaps more distant. Surely the owls could fly and hunt the field around the
pond, as Harriers routinely do.
The pond on Harrison had a good number of ducks, including Gadwall,
Ring-necked, and Hooded Mergansers. The pond on nearby Belvoir Road (Route
709),
at the western end of Harrison, had over sixty Ruddy Ducks and a dozen
Bufflehead earlier, and at dawn this morning there were three Bonaparte's
Gulls on the water. The latter were gone by midday.
eBird link to the precise field of the Short-eareds:
_http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S12060741_ ;
(http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S12060741)
Cheers,
Todd
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Todd Michael Day
Jeffersonton, Virginia
Culpeper County
blkvulture@xxxxxxx
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