Date: Wed, 22 Nov 2000 16:13:20 EST Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Matt Hafner Subject: Wild Martin Chase MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Today I chased Marshall's martin sp. in Kent County. I arrived at the farm around 9am after being distracted by blackbird and goose flocks on the way down. I was given permission to enter and have a look around. I began watching for the bird in the area Marshall had seen it yesterday. There was a large flock of mostly starlings, but with cowbirds and red-wings mixed in, in the feedlot. Snow Geese were constantly overhead and on the horizon. I estimated there to be 25000+. Around 9:30 a juv. Ross's Goose flew over in a flock of about 60 Snows. There were White-crowned Sparrows calling from the hedgerow at the farm. When Marshall arrived we asked permission to walk some of the barns to check if the martin was roosting. No luck there. After that, Marshall headed home and I went to check on the Brewer's Blackbirds that Jim found over the weekend and that Marshall had yesterday. I couldn't find a blackbird flock in that area and all the ones I checked came up empty. I then wandered my way back near the martin spot (just in case) and the Snow Geese were returning to where ever they came from. This time I was able to spot an adult Ross's Goose in with a much larger flock of Snows. There were also 8 Tundra Swans in the field south of the farm. I headed back to Harford after that and made a quick stop at Lapidum Landing on the Susquehanna. There were a few Bonies, Hooded and Common Mergs, but the prize was a imm. Great Cormorant sitting across the river with gulls on a pier. So, no luck with the martin. My guess it died overnight and is in a barn at the farm. Oh well. Matt Hafner College Park, MD ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================