Date: Tue, 18 Jan 2000 15:57:01 EST Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Marshall Iliff Subject: Lapland Longspur location in Caroline County Comments: cc: voice@capaccess.org MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Hello all, I have received several requests for the longspur location near Ridgely in Caroline County and am posting it here. On Sunday, 9 Jan 2000, four of us had 25 Lapland Longspurs here almost immediately upon arrival. Jim Stasz, Ryan Lesh and I first found them here in January 1998, and have had good luck with them here ever since. Some of you may recall the immense field bird flock at Clark Lane in winter 1995-1996 (included 1500+ Horned LArks, 500+ Snow Buntings, 195+ Lapland Longspurs). This is the same area and undoubtedly the whole area hosts large flocks of these birds on a regular basis. Below I give directions to the "Sparks Rd. longspur field" and to "Clarks Lane". SPARKS RD LONGSPUR FIELD- DeLorme Atlas p50-51 b4 (on crease) From Ridgely, Caroline County, go north on Rte. 312 to Mason Bridge Rd. At Sparks Lane jog left, passing Clarks Lane. Yo9u will pass through some woods and then a field area will open up on your right past some houses. Check for field birds here, but the best area is found by continuing past the small wood edge on your right into the large expanse of open field. We always park at the highest point and sit and wait. Often the field birds can be heard calling or seen flying around, and with luck they will land nearby. Our success last week was so easy it was amazing. Knowing the longspur callnotes makes it a lot easier, so bring your tapes. Snow Buntings are annual here too, though we did not see them last weekend (we left after getting the longspurs, as it was almost dark). Be alert also for the possibility of other longspur species mixed in... CLARKS LANE - DeLorme Atlas p50-51 b4 (on crease) From Ridgely, Caroline County, go north on Rte. 312 to Mason Bridge Rd. At Sparks Lane jog left and then make an immediate right on Clarks Lane. Good fields open up fairly quickly, but the best area is about 0.2 mi from the end where it intersects with Cherry Lane. A huge field on the right has a dirt road heading out into the middle of it, and a white house stands alone with a long straight driveway. In 1995 the field birds were concentrated in this area. To my knowledge, very few people have looked for them here since, and the best strategy would be the same as for Sparks Lane, standing and waiting. Snow Goose flocks in the area also have Ross's Geese (2 on the Denton CBC), a Rough-legged Hawk was in nearby Caroline County on the CBC, Short-eared Owls have occurred in the area in winter, several Merlins were seen nearby on the CBC. It is a fun area to bird, I think. Best, Marshall Iliff miliff@aol.com ============ Marshall J. Iliff Annapolis, MD miliff@aol.com ============= ================================================================= To unsubscribe send a message to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ==========================================================================================================================================