Over the past week, a number of waterfowl species have begun showing up
here in Lancaster County. Over the weekend, there were many surf scoters
(as well as some scoters too distant to ID) and buffleheads at Windmill
Point, as well as a few common loons and both horned and pied-billed
grebes. The scoters have mainly been staying very far from shore, but this
evening, a pair of black scoters were on the water only a few dozen yards
from the beach. As I was leaving today, I heard the familiar sound of
Tundra Swans for the first time this fall as a flock of 66 swans flew over
heading south. A single northern pintail and hooded merganser were also
present last week, but I haven't seen any more of those species. Looking
forward to more species appearing during the next few weeks!
Paul Dennehy
Kilmarnock, VA
