Well, I'm new to this sbirding, and am primarily interested in the larger birds
- raptors, herons, etc. Anyway, my wife and I took our kayaks near Shirley
Plantation and paddled over to Turkey Island. On the way to the launch point we
saw an immature BE and many GBH. We also saw a number of osprey, including a
pair building a nest on a shakey perch. Visible from our side of the river was
an eagle's nest. As we paddled closer, we could see an eagle perched higher up
in the nest tree. There is a link to that shot below. When we got to the
island, many small birds flushed. I'm not sure what they were - they looked
like snipes, but were too fast for me to get a photo. We paddled up a creek on
the island and flushed a lot of wood ducks, (again, I think they were WD), and
saw 2 beaver, (I know they can't fly, but ...). I saw some type of crested
duck, but it never let me get close enough to get a good look, or a decent
photo. On the way back to the launch
point we say 20 or 30 cormorants sunning on a tree floating in the river. Just
before beaching the kayaks, we saw an osprey setting on it's nest on a pylon in
the river. There is a link to this phot below. All in all, we had a great time.
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3631/3419301397_ab31a9e40e_b.jpg
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3322/3419301393_d289b97923_o.jpg
