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Golden eagles, Horned larks and Woodcocks



My wife and I and two friends from Matthews, NC visited Burke's Garden this
weekend.  We spotted an immature Bald eagle shortly after entering Burke's
Garden.  I did my best to point out the features that helped distinguish
this bird from the Golden eagle we were looking for.  Later in the day we
spotted our first Golden eagle.  Lesson two was on the features of an
immature Golden.  I'm not sure that my lesson was getting through but the
Golden suddenly went into a stoop and its target was an immature Bald.  They
spent the next 15 minutes gliding and harassing each other.  A great lesson
for distinguishing the two species.  Later we had a second immature Golden
eagle and found a flock of approximately 400 horned larks.  Had great looks
with the aid of a scope.  We also found a single Rough-legged hawk.

The weather was great at Burke's Garden with temperatures ranging from 25 to
32 degrees with almost no wind.  A pleasant change from what we usually get
in the area.

We capped the day with a visit to Sparta, NC and the "Sparta Bog" for
Woodcock.  The Woodcock were very obliging and put on a spectacular display
with several peenting and twittering at once.  Some of the flights were
directly overhead and some of the Woodcocks landed quite near.  My estimate,
although this was probably impossible, was that there were as many as 10
Woodcocks displaying in our area.  A great show!

Harrol & Velma Blevins
On the New River at the NC/VA border
kestrel@valink.com