I was at the main boat ramp area of Sandy River Reservoir (just south of US
460 in eastern Prince Edward Co.) today at around noon and the most
interesting bird present was a young Little Blue Heron (a good record for
the county); I saw a few (2 or 3?) mainly white terns far up the lake but
couldn't identify them.
At about 4 p.m. David Spears called me at my house to say that he and Evan
Spears were watching two Sooty Terns at the Sandy River boat ramp, so I
returned there, arriving about 4:15 p.m., and spent more than an hour
watching the terns, an adult and a juvenile, flying over the upper part of
the lake. The terns spent most of their time between the boat ramp parking
lot and the bridge/causeway directly across the lake from us. We didn't see
the Little Blue Heron again, but this was partly because we spent most of
our time watching the terns. Despite the constant wind and rain we were able
to watch the terns in a scope for several minutes each. Evan and I attempted
to get still images and video of the terns as well (don't know yet how they
turned out). The terns remained in flight the entire time I was there (more
than an hour).
Good luck to all with hurricane recovery and hurricane birding -
Mike Stinson
Dillwyn, VA
