Date: Wed, 14 Jun 2000 11:22:29 -0700 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Charlie Subject: More on Western MD breeders Comments: To: David Holmes , Barb Polilli MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Hi folks, Lots is happening in Green Ridge State Forest now. Family groups all over the place, and Jays trying to eat every one of them. The pair of Scarlett Tanagers whose nest I found Saturday, learned between then and today why NOT to build 50 meters from a Jay family... And I never even got pictures. Last year a single Jay nest wiped out every known family group in a 10-hectare plot. Well, we all gotta eat *something*. My boss found a Cerulean chick being fed by both parents at a site we hadn't previously heard CEWAs. I still can't find it, but I know within 5 meters of where a CEWA nest is. I hear the chicks, see mom and dad bring food, but no luck. Maybe with the aid of a jet-pack or stilts... None of the known Worm-eating Warbler or Ovenbird nests currently has young. And the WEWA's are getting quiet - earlier than I'd expected. We're waiting for a 2nd wave of OVENs. A Hooded Warbler was seen building a nest yesterday. A pewee nest was found with 4 chicks - still have pin feathers, so likely less than a week out of egg. Savage River will likely explode with fledglings next week. The Blue-headed Vireo nest must go in the next day or so, if the ones being sat upon by the 2 biggest want any breathing room! Amazing balance to stay in the nest. Least Flycatchers have more or less shut up. We haven't found a nest yet, so we'll have to rely on food trips and luck. The Whip nest appears to have had one egg hatch; the other is still there, with no adults. Found my 2nd Grouse family last Thursday. Mom and 8 puffballs. It appears that one of the 2 Veery nests successfully fledged: the other was predated. One Wood Thrush nest hatched between Friday and Tuesday. One Black-throated Blue nest was found with eggs today. First of the season for that species, but we know there must be MANY more! I hope you folks find this interesting. Maybe someone (Bob?) even finds it usefull. I am off to the Shawangunks of New York for a week as visiting naturalist next week, so I look forward to hearing about what I missed when I get back! Maybe I'll be lucky with Spruce Grouse or 3-Toed Woodpecker or Boreal Chickadee. Wish me luck. Charlie ===== **************************************** Charlie Muise, Naturalist Frostburg, Maryland, USA And it came to pass that in the hands of the ignorant, the words of the Bible were used to beat plowshares into swords - Alan Wilson Watts __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Photos -- now, 100 FREE prints! http://photos.yahoo.com ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================