Date: Mon, 11 Dec 2000 14:55:51 EST Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Marshall Iliff Subject: No Snowy Owl today MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Hi all, Given that there is a lot of interest, I post that I looked for the Snowy Owl on New Design Rd. from 9:30-11:00 today and did not locate it. A number of other birders (Harvey Mudd, Elliot Kirschbaum etc...) were touring the fields as well and none of us had success of any sort. When I left I suggested that birders drive up Cap Stine Rd. and some of the fields to the north and west, so perhaps they will have some luck. Also in the New Design Rd. area were a number of Lapland Longspurs. 3-5 were in a lark flock by the "Snowy Owl spot" and 10+ were among 200+ Larks at the intersection of New Design and Oland Rds. They did not provide good views on the ground, but flew around and called alot. In other news I was successful in locating the Red-throated Loon at Piney Run Reservoir, Carroll County, on the way there. It was atthe far west end of the lake hanging tight with the ducks. The female Harlequin was also easily found by the Visitor's Center at Black Hilld Res. but promptly flew off to the cove directly west of the V.C., where it was much more difficult to locate. I expect this Snowy Owl has moved on as they are prone to do this early in the season. Later in the year (Jan/Feb) I think it is a bit more likely that birds will stay around for several days or more. With the steady stream of them showing up in NJ and elsewhere, I think MD will get a few more. I have been checking the buildings in Ocean City and the dunes on Assateague almost daily, thus far without success. Some other ideas of places to look are: *Hart-Miller and Poplar Islands - unquestionably the best places in the state for Snowies * Deal Island and Elliott Island - saltmarsh habitat is often preferred * Smith Island - anyone in touch with Marty Cribb? * Frederick Valley and Hagerstown Valley - birders know the former well but someone should try cruising areas east of Blair's Valley Lake (e.g. Broadfording Rd. area). The habitat is excellent/ * Pleasant Valley of Garrett County (south of Oakland) is also ideal habitat * Aaron Run Rd. and Russell Rd. in southeastern Garrett County, and also Dan's Mountain, provide great views of great fields - attractive to Rough-legs and surely a good bet for Snowies... Snowy Owls have a knack for turning up in weird places though. Note that a number of Snowy Owl records in MD have come from urban areas. The District of Columbia has several records from The Mall, Haines Pt., and National Airport. A number of other recent ones have shown up in downtown Baltimore (Ft. McHenry), downtown Annapolis (Hillsmere), and along the Washington Beltway and/or I-270. Watch those tall buildings on your commutes to or from work. Good owling, Marshall Iliff miliff@aol.com Ocean City, MD ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================