Black Swans
It was 40 degrees and windy when I left home this morning, and the forecast was for the tempertaure to keep dropping and the winds to increase. I hadn't been to the Lickinghole Creek and Reservoir for a few weeks, and wanted to see if the resident Bald Eagles had re-built their damaged nest and might be breeding there this year.
After hiking down to the reservoir, I could see that the eagle nest was in about the same shape as the last time I was there. But I was astounded to see TWO Black Swans in the reservoir. A lone Black Swan has been hanging around Crozet for the past two years, usually in this reservoir, but sometimes seen in the Old Trail golf course pond, or in one of the other local ponds. But I have never seen two of them, nor have read any reports of two Black Swans here. As this species is not native to North America, they are presumably escaped birds. Female Black Swans are slightly smaller than males, and have a slightly shorter neck and slightly smaller bill. From my photos, it looks like one of the Black Swans might be a female, which raises an interesting question for the 2nd Virginia Breeding Bird Atlas. If these two Black Swans breed here in the wild, but are not an ABA countable species, do they get recorded as breeding in the VBBA2?
Black Swans
Black Swans
Black Swans
Black Swans
Black Swans
While I was photographing the swans, a Bald Eagle flew over the reservoir, so I suspect that another nest has been built nearby.
Bald Eagle
Most of the birds were hunkered down trying to keep warm and out of the wind, but I ended up with 15+ species, and left when snow flurries started to fall.
Red-shouldered Hawk
Winter Wren
Winter Wren
Winter Wren