Chris Greene Lake, November 2021 ©Drew Chaney
This 53-acre lake located in Earlysville, near the Charlottesville-Albemarle Airport, is an excellent location to find a wide variety of species, from passerines to waterfowl and shorebirds, to raptors and swallows. The lake, while usually empty, can attract a wide variety of waterfowl, and is probably the best place in the county to look for migrating gulls and terns. Swallows are also especially fond of this lake, and migrant Cliff and Bank are a regular occurrence. The beach can be a good place to look for migrating shorebirds as well. A small marsh below the dam is worth checking for potential rails, bitterns, or Marsh Wren, and a peninsula located on the east end of the lake has breeding Warbling Vireos and both species of oriole. There are trailheads located at the main parking area and at a small one on your left as you arrive at the lake, the latter leads to the back of the lake where wading birds and ducks may be found. Walking these is a good way to find passerines in any season. The list of notable records for this location includes Surf and Black Scoters, Long-tailed Duck, Red-necked Grebe, Clapper Rail, Common Gallinule (4/16/2007), Herring Gull (2/25/2007), Caspian and Forster’s Terns, Red-necked Phalarope, Sanderling, Cattle Egret, Tricolored Heron, Little Blue Heron, Black-crowned Night-Heron, and American Tree Sparrow.
eBird Hotspot: Chris Greene Lake
—Drew Chaney, February 2023
