After seeing Evan's post earlier today I visited Sandy River Reservoir this
afternoon and was amazed to find at least 26 Red-necked Grebes on the lake.
I then checked Briery Creek Lake and found 12 more, giving a total of 38
Red-necked Grebes on these two lakes alone. These are unprecedented numbers
for this part of the state; for perspective, before this morning our county
high count was three birds - from a few days ago. I hope birders were able
to check other lakes in the state for this species today. Posts from
Tennessee indicate that they had extraordinary counts of RNGRs today as
well, setting a new state high count of 145 on just two lakes (previous
high count was 15...).
The other highlight was a flock of >60 (perhaps twice that many) Rusty
Blackbirds along a back road between the two lakes.
--
C. Michael Stinson
Dillwyn, VA
My 2014 birding blog: http://birdingtheheartofva.blogspot.com/
