April 5, 2016 [LINK / comment]
The weather turned chilly today, but it was still sunny and therefore a good opportunity for me to get a bit of exercise and check out the birds at Bell's Lane. On my way there, I spotted a pair of Flickers excavating a nest hole along a street corner in Staunton. Perfect photo op! Except for the Bald Eagle (which we saw on Sunday), the rest of the birds in this montage were seen today:
CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: Bald Eagle, in Swoope (April 3), Mourning Dove, Belted Kingfisher, Blue-winged Teal (F), American Goldfinch (M), and Northern Flickers (M & F).
I also saw a pair of Brown Thrashers and a few Northern Shovelers, plus a few unidentified ducks, perhaps Gadwalls.
Speaking of Bald Eagles, Jacqueline has been fascinated by the web cam of the Bald Eagle nest located in the National Arboretum in Washington, D.C. You can see it for yourself at eagles.org. Two baby eaglets hatched about a week to ten days ago, and both are growing rapidly. The parents have been named "Mr. President" and "First Lady."
A few weeks ago, I agreed to serve as the newsletter editor for the Augusta Bird Club, a responsibility that meshes fairly well with my existing responsibilities as Web master, but which will no doubt occupy much precious time. I distributed electronic versions last week, and mailed out the hard copies on Saturday. The latest edition of the newsletter can be seen at augustabirdclub.org.