Date: Wed, 7 Feb 2001 17:10:17 -0600 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: marty cribb Subject: another escapee with potential for trouble MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Hello everyone, I took a few minutes this afternoon to have a quick lookat the waterfowl in and around the west jetty and the creek coming intothe Island from the bayside. I had the usual large #'s of CANADA GOOSE,1,000+, BLACK DUCK , 79, GADWAL , 9, SURF SCOTER, 26, MUTE SWAN, 6,TUNDRA SWAN, 175, BUFFLEHEAD, 200+ BOAT-TAILED GRACKLE, 300+, AMERICANOYSTERCATCHER, 2 (this is a first for the year here on Smith Island), noother shorebirds, NORTHERN HARRIER, 3. Now for the bad news, besides the6 MUSW I also had 2 BLACK SWAN. This is a 1st time sighting for me andone that Im not really happy to see nor am I surprised to see here onSmith Island. This species I understand has the potential of becomingmore of a problem then MUSW. It is a highly aggressive species (even = more so then the MUSW) and has similar feeding habits. Both birds werefeeding the entire time I observed and were by them selves with no otherbird getting within 50 yards. The occasional gull that ventured near wasquickly chased away by both birds. Can anyone give me information thatmaybe helpful in learning more about this I believe an Australian or NewZealand native. Thank you and good birding, Marty Cribb, Smith Island,Md =20 ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================