2012 EVENTS

Seventh Annual Eagle Count

On Saturday January 7, 2012, 38 people participated in the
Seventh Annual eagle count along the New, Bluestone, and Greenbrier Rivers.

They counted from 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM.  People were positioned at Bluestone State Park, Mouth of Bluestone River, Rt. 20, Bellepoint park in Hinton, Bull Falls, Bertha campground (Bluestone WMA), Greenbrier River (from Talcott to Hinton), Brooks Island, Sandstone Falls, and Greenbrier County
(Ronceverte).  

They totaled 19 bald eagles, (7 adult, 5 first year, 3 second
year, 2 third year, and 2 fourth year) and 1 adult golden eagle.

A second survey will be conducted on March 10, 2012.  Anyone interested can contact Mindy Waldron or Jim Phillips.

More Bald Eagles

David Carr of Hardy County reports:

I counted at least 22 Bald Eagles this morning along Parker Hollow Road in Hardy County, west of Baker.  Almost all of these eagles were concentrated in a small woodlot at the edge of a large chicken farm about a mile and a half south of the parking lot for Parker Hollow Lake.  At least 12 of the eagles were adults, and there were more than a dozen Common Ravens in the area as well.  I have long suspected that the large winter concentrations of
eagles that tend to turn up in this area were being created by scavenging opportunities at the many large chicken operations in the Baker area.  This seemed to be what was going on here.

Woodcocks

Mike Griffith of Huntington reports: American Woodcocks were displaying this evening at the entrance to Beech Fork State Park (Cabell Co.) and at the mouth of Butler Adkins Branch (Wayne Co.) - one at each location. Also, a Barred Owl was calling at the first location.
 

This is the first definite Woodcock display I have observed this year.
 

 Ross's Goose

Hullet Good found a Ross's Goose at Coonskin Park Monday morning (01/23/2012).  This is a beautiful bird and an unusual one for our area.  It is hanging out with a large group of Canadian Geese, making it easy to find.  This morning they were on the golf course, not far from the pond, and this afternoon they were swimming on the pond, which allowed for terrific views. 

The Ross's Goose is much smaller than the others - it's cute looking.  It's an adult, so it's pure white, except for a little black on the tail feathers.  The bill is short, wedge-shaped, pinkish, and doesn't have a grin patch.

As of 3:00 Tuesday  the goose was still there.

Turkeys

Deborah K. Beutler reported  the largest flock she had ever seen in West Virginia with 27 birds.  They were looking for food in the litter on a mountainside, not a planted field.  It was in the Morris Creek Watershed, on the Kanawha and Fayette County border, about 5 miles west of Montgomery.

However, according to Terry Bronson, The absolute record appears to be in Roane County near Spencer, where Bob Summers and Margaret Straley noted 220 birds in a neighbor's cornfield about 15 years ago. That must have been truly awesome, with the field looking like a moving carpet of big black birds. The neighbor deliberately left corn for the turkeys.

Terry also noted that Jim Phillips saw 200 at the Bluestone Wildlife Management Area in the 1980s. Again, note that this was over 20 years ago.