Date: Thu, 8 Feb 2001 18:25:02 EST Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Marshall Iliff Subject: Good sparrows at E.A. Vaughn - CCSP, GRSP, LCSP Comments: To: voice@capaccess.org, georgearmistead@hotmail.com, Henry Armistead <74077.3176@compuserve.com>, Shawneen Finnegan , brian_gibbons@juno.com, Paul Lehman , Christopher Wood , Phoebetria@aol.com MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Hi all, I met Sue Ricciardi and Dotty Mumford today at E.A. Vaughn in southern Worcester County, MD. One of their targets was the "old reliable" Le Conte's Sparrow there. To my surprise, when I arrived 10 minutes late they walked up with beaming faces saying they had just found _the_ Le Conte's. The area they had it was a good 300 yards from "old reliable's" haunts. Apparently it had perched in plain view with Savannahs in response to spishing. Clearly a different bird! We split up and birded the field and I quickly flushed an _Ammodramus_. It perched up for me and to my surprise was a GRASSHOPPER SPARROW. I got one quick photo before the brid disappeared. Birding the field further, which was full of sparrows, I worked my way to the margins where I spotted a CLAY-COLORED SPARROW perched up with the Field Sparrows. Giving directions to Dotty and Sue, Dotty eventually found "the" Clay-colored, until it flew and we realized that hers was still sitting there. Shortly thereafter we had both Clay-colors in the same field of view and I got photos of each. On our way out I had a quick look at what was probably their Le Conte's. We moved on to look for the "old reliable" Le Conte's and en route flushed a Le Conte's from a new location. Perhaps it was "old reliable" in a new location. In any event, "old reliable" is stripped of his title since we failed to find him in his usual spot. We then returned to the site of their Le Conte's for one more check. Before long a Le Conte's Sparrow flushed in front of me and we had several in flight views thereafter. Two LE CONTE'S at E.A. Vaughn north! With 10 sparrows already (towhee, Song, Swamp, White-throat, White-crowned (1), Field, Chipping (1), Clay-colored, Grasshopper, and Le Conte's) we moved on to central E.A. Vaughn. A Fox Sparrow calling in the parking lot made sparrow #11. We walked on towards the central Vaughn Le Conte's field, and en route I had a quick look at a probable Lincoln's Sparrow, but it escaped to quickly. Only a few steps ninto the central Vaughn Le Conte's field (where it has been found on the last two CBCs) we flushed a LE CONTE'S. Again we had 3-4 in flight views but never got the bird perched. Moving on to the marsh I flushed one Saltmarsh Sharp-tailed Sparrow (sparrow #12), but found no Nelson's. We parted ways shortly thereafter. My drive back to Ocean City was eventful, with highlights being: * 1 ad male PEREGRINE flying overhead along Figgs Landing Rd. I tried to follow this bird but in level flight it was going 65+ m.p.h.! * 5 juncos (sparrow #13) and 10 Chipping at a feeder along Taylor's Landing Rd. immediately east of Box Iron Rd. * 4 LESSER YELLOWLEGS (ph) in a rain puddle 1.6 mi east of Rte. 113 on Cedarville Rd. This is actually a small impoundment that might be semi-permanent (?). Lesser is decidedly the rarer species of yellowlegs. * 1 WESTERN PALM WARBLER at the intersection of Bay View Rd. and Taylor's Landing Rd.. Although not unexpected, there are comaratively few February records of this species in MD. * 1 ad male MERLIN on a telephone post off Goody Hill Rd. at 5:00 p.m.. For the record, I counted 9 kestrels along Worcester County roads today. * 10 HARLEQUIN DUCKS at Ocean City Inlet. At 5:30 p.m. all ten flew out of the inlet, around the red buoy, and about a mile to the north before I lost them. Flying out to sea to roost? A good day of birding. The count of 3 Le Conte's is a state high count and further demonstrates what some of us have come to realize: that coastal Worcester County is within the species' REGULAR winter range. Sue and Dotty's Le Conte's was in a field I have been expecting to find the species in, and there are a number of other such fields that I have still not checked thoroughly. I will not publicly post specific directions to any of the Le Conte's but will share them with anyone who is interested. The Clay-coloreds however were seen along the hedgerows and woods edge of the fallow field on the right as you enter E.A. Vaughn, north section. This section is located off Taylor's Landing Rd. only about 0.4 mi east of Bay View Rd.. The Clay-coloreds were associating closely with the Field Sparrow flock in the field. Best, 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 ======================================================================= =========================================================================