Date: Mon, 11 Dec 2000 14:54:12 -0500 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Fran Saunders Subject: Re: Snowy Locations MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Add the OC Jetty. We were pleasantly surprised to find one there one wintry morn.... Fran Saunders MOS Web Site Director Silver Spring, MD http://www.MDBirds.org/ webmaster@MDBirds.org Silver Spring, MD ----- Original Message ----- From: "Marshall Iliff" To: Sent: Monday, December 11, 2000 2:55 PM Subject: [MDOSPREY] No Snowy Owl today | 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 | ================================================================= ====== | ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================