Date: Sat, 30 Sep 2000 09:23:21 -0400 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: "WILLIAM B. SCHREITZ" Subject: Re: Connecticut Warbler in Annapolis 9/28 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Hello, Following Marshall suggestion that Bywater Road would make excellent fall birding, I went there this morning a little after seven. I got three good looks, over a forty minute interval, of a total of three possibly four Connecticut Warblers. (It is possible that the last one I saw was one of the ones I saw earlier across the road.) There were all within 60' of the road , half way down the first field. A life bird for me! And three of them, no less! In addition to the regulars this morning, there were 20+ song sparrows, 3 white-throated sparrows, 1 bobolink, 1 winter wren, 3 magnolia warblers, 1 Northern parula, and 1 yellow-billed cuckoo. Bill WILLIAM B SCHREITZ CABINETMAKER INC 1806 VIRGINIA STREET ANNAPOLIS, MARYLAND 21041 cabmkrwbs@erols.com -----Original Message----- From: Marshall Iliff To: MDOSPREY@HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM Date: Thursday, September 28, 2000 7:42 PM Subject: [MDOSPREY] Connecticut Warbler in Annapolis 9/28 >Hi all, > >Taking some of Jim's wisdom to heart, I set out this morning on a >shop-till-I-drop, no sleep till Brooklyn, search for my Anne Arundel, year, >and yard Connecticut. The areas surrounding my house are mostly overgrown >fields reverting to woodland, so the habitat is perfect. That I haven't had >one here yet was only a product of too much time in school in the falls and >too much time running around to other parts of MD once I got a license. >Actually, I have had two "probable" Connecticuts here over the years - the >first was listed as my lifer Mourning for a while, and the second one was >just too brief a look. Both were at the perfect time of year in perfect >habitat, and have always pained me. > >Starting at about 8:30, I walked every field and hedgerow on our property, >and played judicious screech-owl tape at every stop. After tapping out the >possibilities in my true yard, I wandered off property a bit to a favorite >stream valley (where I had seen my lifer "Mourning"). No dice. Finally, I >worked my way over to the Bywater Rd. fields, home of the famous Lark Sparrow >from the winter. Last December, while walking those fields with Gail >Mackiernan and Barry Cooper, Gail remarked that they looked like a great >place for a Connecticut. On my third stop there I heard and immediately >recognized the chip, and was soon enjoying a very confiding (and very >aggravated) Connecticut Warbler. It chipping and excitedly hopped around for >about 3-4 minutes. > >The habitat was an overgrown open field with no canopy layer. The bird was >in a small island of wild cherry trees (3) with large pokeberries and >blackberry bushes beneath them. Other bird sincluded 2 House Wrens, a >yellowthroat, and several cardinals. > >I had a tape recorder along and made a recording of the chip note, which the >bird gave c. 15x on tape. There is a lot of background noise, so the quality >of the tape is not great, but learning this chip will be very useful for >those hoping to find a Connecticut in MD. To me it does sound similar to an >empid (Least/Willow) "whit" note, but is not nearly so abrupt. It is far >more liquid, with a softer introduction and ending, better verbalized as >"quep". It sound slike no other warbler that I am familiar with, and quite >different from yellowthroat, Mourning, and MacGillivray's, all of which might >be confused with a Connecticut, especially if they are behaving typically and >skulking in the brush giving only brief views. I don't have any resources to >put the recording online, but if anyone does I could perhaps send a copy of >the tape. > >...Y2K is #309 and counting... > >This was otherwise a pretty dull day for migrants. Approximate numbers were >3 redstarts, 2 Black-and-whites, 1 Blackpoll, 1 Pine, 8 Magnolia, and 10 >yellowthroats. This afternoon, starting about 3:30 p.m., I noticed a >significant goose flight overhead, and counted about 15 flocks totaling 250 >birds or so. The largest group contained 89. More exciting, the first group >(45) included one small individual, presumably _hutchinsii_, which was a >first for my yard and perhaps the earliest ever for MD. Despite perfect sky >conditions, I saw NO hawks, even high, except for one kettle of 45 >Broad-wingeds that passed low overhead, a high count for my yard. There were >lots of gulls milling about at the limit of vision though... > >Best, > >Marshall Iliff >miliff@aol.com > >======================================================================= >To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com >with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey >======================================================================= > ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================