All--
In addition to the pine siskins, red-breasted nuthatches have been 
regular visitors at Black Hill Visitor Center's feeders for the last 2 
weeks, showing up at least once a day at the suet feeders. Purple 
finches are also seen regularly.

Recreational boating is permitted on the lake until Dec 15th. If several 
boats are on the lake, it forces the waterfowl up into the 10-mile creek 
area. On last week's waterfowl survey, ducks and geese numbered well 
over 1,000 individuals and were easily viewed from the trail. Besides 
the expected species, there were goldeneyes, a common loon, red-throated 
loons, and horned grebes.

The bald eagles are seen almost on a daily basis. Some days we see the 
two adults; other days the first year birds. There was a fly-over golden 
eagle 2 weeks ago.

A new spot to look for waterfowl is the area behind the rock jetty. The 
beavers are adding to a new dam every day so the water level has risen 
in the pond behind the dam.

Denise Gibbs
Park Naturalist
Black Hill Visitor Center

Gail B. Mackiernan <> wrote:

>Hi all -
>
>We stopped by Black Hills Visitor Center to check out the feeders, and in about 10 minutes had a visit by a single PINE SISKIN which fed at the mixed seed feeder for about a minute and then flew off. That bird (or another) came back in about another 10 minutes, this time to the thistle feeder, and then we left.
>
>We didn't see much else of interest either at the feeders or on the lake, but did not exhaustively scope every part of the impoundment.
>
>Gail Mackiernan and Barry Cooper
>Colesville, MD
>
>
>
>  
>