I spent most of the past four days looking unsuccessfully for crossbills
in Carroll County. There are thousands of Norway Spruces with cones this
year. Who knows where the crossbills will appear. On the way home today
after checking some spruces in Taneytown I stopped by Jasontown Road to
look for Horned Larks. The fields here have been lightly spread with manure
over several acres. Along with about 75 Horned Larks I saw one LAPLAND
LONGSPUR. It was in the road with about twenty of the larks. This portion
of Jasontown Road (DeLorme 73C6, about 0.3-0.4 mile west of Springdale
Road) is gravel. I watched the birds from the car for a few minutes before
the flock took off to the south across the stubble cornfield and out of
sight over the hill. This is the first time I have seen a flock at this
site this fall but it is easy to see nothing considering the huge area of
fields. Also in these fields today were about 20 Ring-billed Gulls and a
dozen Killdeer.
Other observations during the past few days:
Thursday the 22nd - 6 TUNDRA SWANS on the lake at Piney Run Park along with
the now resident Mute Swan during a brief visit.
Friday the 23rd - At Westminster Community Pond were 150 Canada Geese, 6
Graylag Geese, 1 Chinese Goose, 1 Muscovy, 20 Mallards and 24 Ring-billed
Gulls. At Cranberry Reservoir were 2 CACKLING GEESE, 400 Canada Geese, 2
Green-winged Teal, 5 Lesser Scaup, 12 Hooded Mergansers, and 32 Ruddy Ducks.
Saturday the 24th - I took a more comprehensive look at the waterfowl at
Piney Run: Canada Goose 16, Canada Goose X Graylag Goose hybrid 1, Mute
Swan 1, Gadwall 7, Baldpate 8, Black Duck 18, Mallard 12, CANVASBACK 1,
Ring-necked Duck 325, Lesser Scaup 20, Bufflehead 60, Hooded Merganser 15,
Ruddy Duck 75, Pied-billed Grebe 10, Great Blue Heron 2, Bald Eagle 1
adult, Ring-billed Gull 16.
On Liberty Lake off the end of Oakland Road were 7 Canada Geese, 1 Black
Duck, 6 Mallards, 3 LONG-TAILED DUCKS, and 3 Pied-billed Grebes.
Sunday the 25th - On the New Windsor sewage ponds were 32 Canada Geese, 1
male WOOD DUCK, 24 Mallards, 2 Ring-necked Ducks, and 1 Ruddy Duck. I saw
at least 3 each of Tree Sparrows and White-crowned Sparrows in the adjacent
wetlands area. I also watched an immature Cooper's Hawk reduce the local
Flicker population by one.
--
Bob Ringler
Eldersburg MD
--
-- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Group 'Maryland & DC Birding'.
To view group guidelines or change email preferences, visit this group on the web at http://www.mdbirding.com
Posts can be sent to the group by sending an email to <mdbirding...>
|