Date: Thu, 24 Feb 2000 11:05:58 EST Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Abbie Banks Subject: Re: Horsehead Wildlife Center -Reply MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Re: Horsehead Horsehead reminds me of most places I have birded. There are productive days and nonproductive days. Eastern Neck WLR, Patuxent River Park and even Cape May do not come with guarantees of quantity and quality. Once I was to Merrit Island twice in the same week and one day was awesome and two days later was nonproductive. A good birding friend, who haunts Cape May, stated many years ago that one sees the common birds most of the time. He shared this with me as we stood and watched the Snowy fly over the pilings at Henlopen in 20 degree weather after a foot of snow covered the East coast [7-8 years ago]. I have been to Horsehead many times over the years and have been there on productive days when the fields before the refuge are busy with Harriers, Hairy Woodpeckers on the poles, variety of warblers and sparrows and the ponds have a variety of waterfowl and such. The most wonderful views of nesting Osprey are at Horsehead. Even the Brown-headed Nuthatch can be seen at this refuge. I have canoed from the refuge and have sighted many other species in the marshes and out on the open water. It is a site that has unique opportunities. The only problem I have is that it closes at 5:00 PM. I feel during summer it should be open until dark. Joe, I suggest returning during migration or just different times of the year and you will see a difference. I know that you are a dedicated birder and that you must have been there on an off day. Good birding, Abbie/Bowie ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================