Hi everybody..sorry for any messages sent without any body...enough said.
I spent this morning birding in the county trying to hit a number of
areas that had bodies of water that would not be impacted by hunters
looking for waterfowl. I started at BLUE MASH...I was not able to arrive at
pre-dawn to see if I could spot a short-eared owl before true daylight. A
reoccurring problem that unfolded throughout the morning in my search for
waterfowl was that many places with small ponds were completely frozen over
including the two ponds at Blue Mash.
Shortly after daylight at Blue Mash I observed a male NORTHERN HARRIER
flying above the landfill area and within the next hour I saw two more
female/immature harriers (3 total) along the top of the landfill soaring
around at the same time. Sparrows were limited in numbers; but I did have
one FOX SPARROW and I also had my FOY Winter Wren.
Next stop was scanning at Tridelphia Reservoir from the bridge crossing at
Brighton Dam Rd....Waterfowl seen here included Tundra Swan (same 1 seen in
both Montg. & How. Co.s; also Pied-billed Grebe (1), Lesser Scaup (1),
Hooded Mergs (6) and 38 Common Mergs in Montgomery County. I also counted
another 48 Common Mergs in Howard County.
I quickly checked the pond on Zion Rd...it was completely frozen over.
Back closer to home in Germantown I spent about 20 minutes at Gunner
Lake...it was 90% frozen...the small part of open water had a concentrated
number of Canada Geese (I estimated 850), 8 Ring-necked Ducks, 2
Bufflehead, 4 Pied-billed Grebes, 85 Ring-billed Gulls and 6 Amer.Coots.
The most interesting bird was what I determined to be a hybrid Canada
Goose/Greater White-fronted Goose. It had an orange bill, orange legs and
looked like a GWFG as far as the body is concerned.
however it was the same size as all of the surrounding Canada Geese around
it. The head was *completely* white with a few darker brownish streaks on
the lower back of the neck.
My last stop was on the Rt. 121 causeway (Seneca Lake - Black Hills
Park)... I scanned both sides of the causeway and was surprised at the
small number of waterfowl. I spent about 30 minutes here (11:46 - 12:15)
and saw the following...Ruddy Ducks (12), Bufflehead (8), Ring-necked Ducks
(5), Common Merganser (5) and Pied-billed Grebe (12). Just before I left I
had 9 AMERICAN WIGEON fly in and land close to the Rt. 121 pulloff and a
few minutes late a male COMMON GOLDENEYE also flew in and landed in the
middle of the lake.
Jim Green
Gaithersburg, MD
work in moderation, BIRD IN EXCESS!!!
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