I'd been thinking about doing a Garrett-Allegany-Washington waterfowl chase
for some time, and with the many recent reports I decided Sunday was the
day. It was an ideal day, not too cold or too windy, but overcast enough to
keep the birds in place. Basically I followed in the steps of Jim Green and
Ron Gutberlet, and although I missed some of their finds, the trip was
much more productive than I expected. As Ron mentioned, the big lakes in
Garrett were mostly frozen, but the open water that remained held good variety.
Arriving at Finzel before dawn, I knew it was going to be a good day when I
could hear an AMERICAN WOODCOCK displaying while still in my car. A
flyover flock of 5 TUNDRA SWANS was nice, as were 3 AMERICAN TREE SPARROWS. At
Piney Reservoir there was only a small pocket of open water at the entrance,
but the first duck I saw was a female COMMON GOLDENEYE along with a pair of
GADWALL among a handful of common species.
The best birding of the day was in the Oakland area. Thanks to Ron and Jim,
I stopped next to a pond on Rt.219 just north of town. Not a lot of birds
but diversity was great -- AMERICAN BLACK DUCK (2), a pair of REDHEADS, 2
RING-NECKED DUCKS, 1 male LESSER SCAUP, and 4 BUFFLEHEAD. At Broadford Lake
the open water was distant, but again the variety was excellent -- 8
GADWALL, 3 GREATER SCAUP, 4 HOODED MERGANSERS, one female RED-BREASTED MERGANSER,
and one HORNED GREBE. An OSPREY hunted over the ducks, and a WILSON'S
SNIPE flushed from the matted reeds in front of me. My last stop in Garrett was
Trout Run WWTP, where I picked up AMERICAN WIGEON and another hen REDHEAD.
Nearby, EASTERN MEADOWLARKS were singing.
Heading towards home I stopped at the C&O Canal Terminus in Cumberland,
but not much there. Rocky Gap SP, however, was very good. I saw 2 GADWALL, 3
AMERICAN WIGEON, 3 male NORTHERN SHOVELERS, RING-NECKED DUCKS, GREATER and
LESSER SCAUP, and 6 RED-BREASTED MERGANSERS including 2 resplendent males.
Also here were 2 COMMON LOONS and 4 HORNED GREBES. A pleasant surprise was a
calling RED-BREASTED NUTHATCH, another county bird. The last stop of the
day was Big Pool, which was a little disappointing but did have my closeout
RUDDY DUCK.
Altogether I picked up 18 county birds in Garrett, 10 in Allegany and 1 in
Washington. Links to my complete eBird lists are below. Thanks again to Ron
and Jim for providing me with an itinerary!
Joel Martin
Catonsville, MD
Finzel Swamp
_http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S13515180_
(http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S13515180)
Piney Reservoir
_http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S13515221_
(http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S13515221)
Rt. 219 Pond
_http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S13515244_
(http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S13515244)
Broadford Lake
_http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S13515827_
(http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S13515827)
Trout Run WWTP
_http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S13515867_
(http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S13515867)
Terminus
_http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S13515901_
(http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S13515901)
Rocky Gap
_http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S13515992_
(http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S13515992)
Big Pool
_http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S13516046_
(http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S13516046)
--
-- 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...>
|