Date: Sat, 9 Dec 2000 18:59:48 -0500 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: "J.B. Churchill" Subject: Good Birds in Garrett County, MD I did some birding in WV this morning then headed East. I started at Deep Creek Lake. In McHenry there were 2 GADWALL and 4 N. PINTAIL as well as a few Green-winged Teal and scores of Mallards, Coots, Ruddy Ducks and a few Canada Geese. The best find in the area was at the State Park by the bridge (where toothpick road comes in) where I found a SURF SCOTER. It was a female or first year male (not sure). The bill was pale like the first year male in the Sibley field guide but the plumage on the head showed a lot of white like the female. Then I went to Aaron's Run Road and parked on top of the hill and waited for the approaching darkness. Short-eared Owls have been seen here in years past and I wanted to see one. I gave up after about an hour in very poor light. As I drove off, I looked off to the South and against the Sunset I saw a silhouette of a SHORT-EARED OWL land on a fence post. I watched it tearing it's rodent prey to shreds for about 5 minutes. It moved off when a truck drove by. Most excellent !! Good Birding, J.B. Churchill Morgantown WV jchurchi@wvu.edu ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================