Date: Mon, 22 May 2000 18:40:24 -0400 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Steve Sanford Subject: Lapidum Loon, etc MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="Windows-1252" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit I stopped by Lapidum Sunday afternoon (5/21) and did see a difficult loon= , about =BC mile away to the southeast and drifting further down stream. It= may or may not have been Dave Powell=92s Red-throated Loon. It appeared to be= in mostly winter plumage but there was a very dark area on the lower throat down, perhaps, most of the way to the water line. There may have been a slight reddish tinge to this, but that may be wishful thinking. Most of t= he neck and head were pale whitish to gray approaching the nape and crown. There was somewhat of a sense of a dark area running from the bill throug= h the eye. Unfortunately, the only source readily available to me showing t= he 1st spring plumage Dave referred to is the Geo guide and it doesn=92t sho= w the lower neck and breast area. Overall, the bird seemed rather husky and square-headed for a Red-throated Loon, but lighter than the average Commo= n Loon. It held the bill upwards a little, but not most of the time. The bi= ll was similarly somewhere in the middle between my concept of Common vs. Red-throated. Come to think of it, Pacific Loon is sort of half-way betwe= en the two others, eh? Does this sound like your loon, Dave? I also stopped at Lakeside Business Park where there were 2 Gr Yellowlegs= , 1 Semi-palmated Plover, and 2 Spotties. At Harford Glen, another Semi Plove= r, 2 Solitaries, and four Leasts. The Leasts and Semi Plover were county bir= ds for me. Speaking of county birding, I had another good, long-sought all-county =93close-out=94 Saturday 5/20 thanks to tips from Jim Stasz and Matt Hafn= er, namely Pileated Woodpecker (2!) in eastern Kent Co. One was on Bradford Johnson Rd about =BC mile north of Golts. The other was on Black Bottom R= d about =BD mile south of Golts. I also heard but did not see the Dickcisse= ls that they found on Walnut Tree Rd. Steve Sanford tanager@bcpl.net Randallstown MD (Baltimore Co) ========================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ========================================================================= ===========================================================================