Date: Fri, 9 Jun 2000 23:15:47 EDT Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Joel Martin Subject: Henslow's Sparrow in Allegany and other good stuff MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit On Thursday, 6/8, I had a wonderful day exploring for the first time parts of Allegany and Garrett Counties. This was not planned as a big listing trip but primarily an attempt to bag a few western specialties and cover some new ground. Highest on my list was Henslow's Sparrow, a bird that's fascinated me for a long time because of its decline from a widespread breeder to a tenuous hold-out in Western Maryland. Setting out in the dead of night, I arrived before sunrise at a field near Frostburg recommended by J.B Churchill. This is an amazing field, very birdy, filled with more Grasshopper Sparrows than I've ever seen in one place. While approaching one of them to get a good scope view, somewhere beyond it I picked up that unmistakable "se-lick." Henslow's! It seemed to be right in front of me but in fact was a hundred yards or more away. It took a while but the bird finally moved and I was able to get it in the scope. I just watched him sit there and sing for the next half hour. What a satisfying way to get such a prized life bird. This field also produced Wild Turkey, Chat, Cedar Waxwing, Thrasher, Meadowlark, Field and Chipping Sparrow, and Indigo Bunting. Didn't find any Vespers. With the day hardly begun I moved on to Dan's Rock Road to search for my second target, Golden-winged Warbler. This road was very rich in numbers, if not variety of warblers: Cerulean, Chestnut-sided, Ovenbird, Hooded, Yellowthroat, but I could not find Golden-wings there. So, on a hot tip from Steve Sanford, I drove down to Jennings Randolph Lake in Garrett County, stopping at the first scenic overlook. As soon as I was out of the car I heard a "beee-bzz-bzz" from the trees along the road. I managed to see this bird well, if only briefly, feeding in its acrobatic style. Lifer #2 for the day! From there I spent some time driving up through the rugged and scenic Savage Mountains. I had another sure-fire tip from Steve for my third target, Least Flycatcher. Not surprisingly, I found them in the very TREE that Steve had described. Who could ask for more? The day was getting late but I wanted to see Finzel and Wolf Swamps. At Finzel, a burry "rrrreee-BEE-a" from deep in the willows told me I was close to another potential life bird, Alder Flycatcher. But it was too far and never showed itself. Maybe another day. At Wolf Swamp I had two singing Willow Flycatchers right beside the road -- why couldn't THEY be Alders? I finally headed home, tired but very satisfied. One thing I learned -- Garrett County is a BIG place and requires a lot of time to do it right. Many thanks to J.B. Churchill, Steve Sanford and Jim Stasz for making my first trip so successful. I'll be back! 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 ======================================================================= =========================================================================