Date: Mon, 31 Jan 2000 23:11:40 -0500 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Joel Martin Subject: Woodstock Trail, Baltimore Co., 1/29 Hello Ospreyers, On Saturday my son Eric and I were both itching to get out, and all it took was for him to ask if we could "go to the woods" as he puts it. We went out to Granite and walked a LONG way along the Patapsco River. Aside from the coastal marshes there's probably no place I'd rather be than a snow-covered winter woods. We saw a lot of the usuals, including some singing chickadees and titmice. I didn't find any of the year birds I was hoping for like Winter Wren and Creeper. But there were some real highlights. A lone Myrtle Warbler seemed out of place against the snow. A Red-shouldered Hawk was being harassed by crows. Two amorous Barred Owls were hooting back and forth, unseen, across the river. And a pair of Pileated Woodpeckers were being very noisy at the edge of the powerline. But the real avian highlight came as we were watching a flock of White- throats and Juncos scratching along the riverbank no more than 30 feet away. Suddenly everything erupted in a twittering, fluttering mass as the view was filled with the form of an immature Sharp-shinned Hawk which had just made an unsuccessful attack. Amazingly, he remained perched in plain sight for several minutes, apparently convinced that he must actually have caught something. Finally he flew off up the river. On the walk out, our day was capped off as we surprised a beautiful red fox at close range, digging for food on the riverbank. He ran across the ice, up the opposite bank and disappeared over the railroad tracks. Joel Martin Catonsville ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey =======================================================================