Date: Wed, 8 Mar 2000 21:44:34 -0500 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Leslie Roslund Subject: Springtime in Talbot County MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit What a wonderful day for outdoor activities today! The morning started with a visit to Pickering Creek Environmental Education Center. As I turned onto Sharp Road, an Immature Bald Eagle lifted up from their cornfield. A brief birdwalk along portions of their trails yielded 'usual stuff' augmented by strong calling of a Pileated Woodpecker, a single call from a Great Horned Owl, great sightings of five (or more) Wood Ducks, and then, the following "firsts" for the season: Tree Swallow Chipping Sparrow Swamp Sparrow - (they had eluded me during several visits over the past winter) Almost had the birdwalk turn into a Mammal Walk, for as I proceeded along the entrance road there were three Delmarva Fox Squirrels feeding happily beside the road, and only two scampered off as I drove slowly past. The third just sat on haunches and watched me go by. Then, on Pickering Creek waters, two River Otter were swimming around to provide us with quite good viewing. And finally, as we approached wrap-up time at 9:30, near the small pond back of the barns, a Beaver came plodding over the dam, and entered the water giving all of us some great views. This evening, on my own place on Leeds Creek near Tunis Mills, nature gave me another delightful treat. I have a very small pond in the middle of the property - it is dry most of the time, but holds a little water in springtime, if there has been enough recent moisture. Some water is in it now. Much to my astonishment, at 6:15 this evening, I discovered that some American Woodcock were 'peenting' and then even doing displays over my own pond! I had a 6:45 appointment in Easton, so had to leave after watching for only 10 minutes, but during that time, the 'peenting' was continuous; I saw two flights into the air, followed by the circling and twittering culminating in a dive back to the region of the pond - and the twittering in the sky was still going on as I exited my driveway. What fun! Hard to leave, but the good spouse and I have signed on with the Audubon Naturalist Society's trip to Costa Rica, so this Friday we bail out of here to go be inundated with Costa Rica birds from the 11th to the 20th of the month. Isn't spring wonderful! Les Roslund Lroslund@bluecrab.org Easton, Md ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================