Hi everybody:
Kathy Calvert and I spent most of the day in Garrett and Allegany
Counties and finished our travels on the way back in Washington County.
When the days get as short as they are now we long for those extra 3-4
hours of daylight that are a bonus in the summer time. Kathy is posting our
day's results on e-bird and I am giving a quick synopsis of our days
results here.
GARRETT CO.
Piney Reservoir...White-winged Scoter initially reported by Matt
Tillet still there...Also several Green-winged Teals, numerous Ruddy Ducks,
and Pied-billed Grebes
Little Meadows Lake...quite a variety of waterfowl dominated by
Ruddy Ducks, Ring-necked Ducks, several Lesser Scaup, Amer. Wigeon and
Black Ducks. We also saw the following which had been reported by Matt
Tillet on 11/5: a single female Canvasback and single female N. Pintail. We
did not find his black Scoter...(bummer). We also saw one Horned Grebe on
the lake. Feeling lucky about the recent reports of Crossbills and Evening
Grosbeaks we headed to New Germany St. Pk. Despite alot of inviting spruce
trees with cones we heard and saw nothing of interest.
ALLEGANY CO.
As we started back east we stopped at North Branch in Allegany
County...there was nothing on the sewage pond mats (not even a killdeer)
and we found nothing of note further down the road at the cemetery and
above the spray fields which appeared very dry despite all of the
precipitation delivered by Sandy last week. We then took Mason RD over
towards Rocky Gap...absolutely nothing on the roadside ponds.
We carefully scoped the lake at Rocky Gap...all we could find
were Ruddy Ducks and a hand full of Pied-billed Grebes. We later drove down
to the northern end of the lake (which I call the ampitheater area). While
here we had a half dozen PINE SISKINS that were so busy feeding on seeds
and and weeds at eye level that we could approach them within 6 feet.
Town Hill Hawk Watch...Spurred on by Bob Ringler's previous day
report we arrived at Town Hill in mid-afternoon. As soon as we were out of
the car we had a Red-tailed Hawk fly/glide by and we immediately became
excited to see Golden Eagles, etc. which Bob saw yesterday. Alas, the RTHA
was the only raptor we would see while we were there. We noticed the spruce
trees filled with cones and also zeroed in on them hoping for a repeat of
his White-winged Crossbills...no luck on these either. However we were not
shutout. We first heard and then heard a small flock of EVENING GROSBEAKS
fly over. They briefly landed in the tops of a bare tall tree to the east
side of the Inn. They were there long enough for me to get some brief scope
views of them and then they were gone as quickly as they had appeared. I
also flushed an American Woodcock in the woods near the parking area.
A quick stop at Big Pool in Washington County produced Black Ducks and a
Pied-billed Grebe, and a perched adult Bald Eagle. We did see the
continuing white morph phase of the Great Blue Heron.
It was a nice day to be out...fairly cold in the early morning hours of
Garrett Co. and enough snow on the ground that we drove right past the
entrance to Finzel Swamp en route to Piney Reservoir in the morning.
Looking forward to this weekend's Rarity Roundup!!!
Jim Green
Gaithersburg, MD
work in moderation, BIRD IN EXCESS!!!
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