Date: Wed, 21 Jun 2000 11:03:50 EDT Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Matt Hafner Subject: Western Maryland Weekend MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit We trekked out Thursday night to Garrett for the weekend. Our trip started off well with three Whip-poor-wills calling from Russell Rd [DeLorme 66 C3]. before we went to sleep. In the morning we traveled to Roth Rock [DeLorme 64 B1] for Mourning Warbler. En route an Alder Flycatcher was found singing along Smouse Rd [DeLorme 64 A2]. At Roth Rock we had excellent views of the male Mourning and brief views of the female. Also present were many Chestnut-sideds, Hoodeds, and Black-throated Blues. A pair of juncoes were nest-building. A drive through the Pleasant Valley produced Red-headed Woodpeckers on Joni Miller Rd [DeLorme 64 B1]. A stop by the Oakland WWTP [DeLorme 64 A1] produced a calling Upland Sandpiper that was distant, but well seen. We noted that the spray field inside the fence on the top of the hill is back in operation after several years and may provide some shorebird habitat in the Fall. A quick stop on Bittinger Rd., across from the 4-H center produced an unexpected singing male Myrtle Warbler. Next we went to Swallow Falls SP where we found Golden-crowned Kinglet and Red-breasted Nuthatch on Cheeks Ln just outside the park. Inside the park the Blackburnians were numerous. There were also lots of _alticola_ Blue-headed Vireos and Magnolia Warblers. On Maple Glade Rd. we saw Hermit Thrushes and more Hooded Warblers, but no Least Flycatchers. Near Cranesville we had our first Golden-winged Warblers for the trip. Along Snaggy Mt. Rd. we had a couple more Golden-wings along with Canadas and Pines. Veeries and Purple Finches in full song were an added treat. After enough warblering for the day we went to Combination Rd. for Henslow's Sparrows. A Least Flycatcher was found at the small patch of woods on the north side at the start of the road. Then we heard at least 6 Henslow's in the field along with a Vesper Sparrow and several Grasshopper sparrows. After sunset we spent time playing rail tapes at Hammil Glade and Cherry Creek Glades to no avail. Saturday morning we rose rather late and went straight to Swallow Falls to try and clean up some of our misses from the day before. There was not much different except for one Canada Warbler and a few Purple Finches [the hoped for Winter Wren and Pine Siskins did not appear]. Cranesville did produce 3 Northern Waterthrushes this time. We then traveled to northwestern Garrett. There we encountered riparian habitat along the Yougiogheny Reservoir that contained 4 Yellow-throated Warblers [first found at this location by Jim Stasz a year ago], a Blue-winged Warbler and an Orchard Oriole. This area is accessed by heading northwest from Friendsville to Old Morgantown Rd [DeLorme 65 A5]. then east to the parking area at the end of the road. An old road/railroad bed leads south along the western shoreline and is a pleasant walk. A visit to the Good Hope Rd./Buffalo Run Rd [DeLorme 65 A5]. area produced White-eyed Vireo and more Golden-winged Warblers. From the intersection it is possible to walk east towards the reservoir. Stops at New Germany SP and Meadow Lake added nothing new. We then headed over to Piney Res. where there was an immature Double-crested Cormorant. A trip to Finzel did not produce much since a drenching rain began shortly after our arrival. On Sunday we started with a drive down Green Ridge Rd. and encountered the usual suspects: Worm-eating, Hooded, American Redstart, Pine, Cerulean. A side trip at the south end to Dailey Rd. [DeLorme 68 C3] pond added Yellow-breasted Chat, Prairie, and more Golden-wings. Town Hill Aqueduct added Yellow-throated Warbler, but no hoped-for Prothonotary. A quick visit to the Paw Paw boat launch [DeLorme 68 C3] [shhh-- it is in West Virginia] revealed nesting Cliff Swallows under the bridge and Orchard Oriole & Warbling Vireo singing from the Maryland side. The run north along Oldtown Rd. had the same species as along Green Ridge Rd. Although we spent a great deal of time looking for Dickcissel in Allegany and Washington counties. We did not have any luck. In the evening we went to Frederick County where we proceeded to find Dickcissels. We counted 10 along Cap Stine Rd. A Shrike and Vesper Sparrow were along Lilypons Rd. We were treated to an adult Yellow-crowned Night-Heron and a Least Bittern at Lilypons, but no Virginia Rail. In the end we had 133 species including 25 warblers. In the State Bird Competition: Matt 5, Marshall 0, Jim 0. In the County Bird Competition: Matt 153, Marshall 1, Jim 0. Matt did have a slight advantage having never been west of Frederick County in summer. Matt Hafner Bel Air MD Marshall Iliff Annapolis MD Jim Stasz North Beach MD ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================