Date: Sun, 4 Feb 2001 09:58:21 EST Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Rick Sussman Subject: Howard County mid-winter count MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Hi all, I spent the day (cold, windy but mostly sunny by afternoon) birding western Howard County with Jay Sheppard. 45 minutes of pre-dawn owling produced nothing, and birding through at least mid-morning was very slow, with wind and cold temps keeping birds inactive. Things did pick up by about 10:30 and we began finding one of this and two of that.We spent a good portion of the morning searching for roosting owls, and found some trees with both white-wash and pellets beneath them but no owls. My best finds for the morning were a single RED-BREASTED NUTHATCH and a fleeting glimpse of a reclusive BROWN THRASHER which skulked in a thicket and refused to come out after much spishing and squeaking. After lunch we began seeing better numbers of woodpeckers (one Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, a few Pileateds, Flicker, Hairy, Downy and many Red-bellieds), robins, waxwings and bluebirds, and a few Red-tailed Hawks, but accipiters and Red-shouldered remained elusive. Waterfowl consisted mainly of huge flocks of Canada geese with small numbers of Mallard and Black ducks. Towards dusk we were driving the back roads looking for additional species (mostly Wild Turkey going to roost) when we finally picked up 2 Red-shoulderd Hawks. Jay got a quick glimpse of a turkey as it flew from its roost (we must've spooked it just as it arrived) and on into the woods and as we turned and drove down a small road in pursuit, Jay suddenly yelled "OWL". We quickly jumped from the car in time to see a pair of Great Horned Owls flying off, and briefly landing in a tree together before they flew over the ridge. Just before sunset we decided to go back and check a previous spot to see if we could find Long-eared Owls. As we walked along I asked Jay what the status of Barn Owls was in Howard County, and he replied that he didn't think any had been reported in over 10 years. The field where we waited and watched the sunset looked good for American Woodcock, so we stayed there hoping for an early season display. We were standing perhaps 30 feet from each other when Jay called me down to his location in time to see a "light" shadow fly by and disappear towards the woods. We waited and Jay began a series of squeaks, in immitation of a mouse. Finally the bird flew by again, circling the field in search of the squeaking noise. As it flew by we got good looks at its face pattern and underside pattern, as well as its' flight style. It hunted for a time and then disappeared, again heading off toward the woods. We waited a while and it appeared again, flying and quartering the field in "hunt mode". After it disappeared again, it was too dark for us to see anymore, so we left. But we both agreed on its I.D., a hunting BARN OWL, the highlight of the day coming at dusk! My other real highlight occured in late afternoon sunlight. We were parked by a nursery with lots of bird activity, mostly bluebirds robins and waxwings. The sun was low and coming in from behind us, and right by the side of the road was a small patch of icey snow. Waxwings were perched in the bradford pear above the snow and were flying down in groups of about 6 or 7 birds to peck at and eat the snow! Their subtle coloration really stood out against the white of the snow, reminding me of Evening Grosbeaks. I guess since Montgomery County no longer has a mid-winter count, I'll be joining in the Howard County count from now on. I hadn't done it for a number of years and now I remember how much fun they are! Cheers, Rick Sussman Ashton,MD (Montgomery County) warblerick@aol.com ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================