Date:         Mon, 15 Jan 2001 08:26:11 EST
Reply-To:     Maryland Birds & Birding <MDOSPREY@HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM>
Sender:       Maryland Birds & Birding <MDOSPREY@HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM>
From:         Gail Mackiernan <GAIL@UMDD.UMD.EDU>
Subject:      Status of some MD birds?

There has been a dearth of posts on current status of some of the unusual
birds about. For example, at a bird club meeting last night I heard that
"The Snowy Owl is gone" and "No one has seen the shrike for days..." , but
nothing to MDosprey. Also, no reports for a couple of weeks on the
Harlequin Duck and -- since my husband and his brother found it -- we were
interested as to its last sighting. Any input on that? (We saw it last on
Dec. 29.)

If the Snowy Owl IS gone, then this would immediately bring the Owl Circus
to a halt -- so this news should be widely disseminated to birders. I would
be less certain of the shrike, a notoriously fickle species, but again --if
it is truly "in absentia" for a significant period, again it would relieve
some of the recent -- although by no means as serious -- birder pressure on
the area.

And I assume that the Green-tailed Towhee has been looked for a bit and not
relocated. I would bet it is still around but in a somewhat different area,
there is so much habitat out there!

Please remeber that NEGATIVE reports are as useful as positive reports, if
one is planning a trip to look for a spacial bird.

Cheers,
Gail Mackiernan
Colesville, MD

=======================================================================
To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com
with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey
=======================================================================
=========================================================================