Date: Wed, 28 Feb 2001 20:09:46 -0600 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: marty cribb Subject: Smith Island Sightings MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Hello Everyone, a wonderful sunset this evening on the Island with therelatively mild temparatures I attempted to count BACK-CROWNEDNIGHT-HERONS as they left the roost to forage. Directly in front of myhouse is about 45-50 acres of unbroken marsh that extends westward tothe Chesapeake Bay shoreline and just before the marsh becomes part ofthe Bay about a 3 acre hammock of mixed diciduous & evergreen treesmostly Hackberries and White Cedar. The reason I metion the trees at allis that for whatever reason the HERONS do not roost in the trees as onewould assume but roost in the SPARTINA SP and NEEDLERUSH which is thepredominant grass species here on the Island. I watched 27 BCNH slowlyand individually leave this section of the marsh and flyover a smalltidal gut to begin foraging in a different section of marsh. As thebirds left on their nightly forays they were very vocal with many doglike "wuuuf" noises which were very loud and somewhat amusing to myears. Along with the HERONS I also counted 3 VIRGINIA RAIL vocalizing aswell as 8-10 CLAPPER RAIL which seemed to try and outduel the otherbirds in decibel level. I also observed 1 NORTHERN HARRIER (hunting overthe marsh with the setting sun in the background) and many GADWAL, BLACKDUCK, and AMERICAN WIDGEON. Sights & sounds like these this evening makeone appreciate more the beauty of nature. Good Birding, Marty Cribb,Smith Island, Md ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================