I saw a Great Egret on Shenandoah Lake in Rockingham County this morning. They
recently drained the lake a bit and exposed a large mud flat.
Also saw 2 Great Blue Herons, 2 Ring-billed Gulls, 2 male Pintails, 5 male
Gadwalls, 1 male Scaup, 1 male Redhead, 2 male Ringneck Ducks, 15 or so Ruddy
Ducks, 1 Pied-bill Grebe, 2 pair Hooded Mergansers, 1 male Wood Duck, 2 male
Green-wing Teal, 1 Kingfisher, 70+ Coots, LOTS of mallards, and some females
of above duck species. (normally I know the females only because they're in
small flocks with the males, but there were so many species and so few birds
that I couldn't tell who was with who)
Also, I did not see the reported Goldeneye, and I didn't see any Canada Geese.
This last part puzzled me until I went to Lake Campbell to look for the
Goldeneye. That's where the CG were. If I could've jumped from bird to bird
I think I could have crossed the lake without getting wet. They completely
dominated the deep water and both grassy banks. Needless to say the Goldeneye
was not there either.
Kathy Fovargue
