Date: Thu, 1 Mar 2001 11:53:30 -0500 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Dan Eberly Subject: Black Hill Park 2/28 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Wednesday afternoon I took a walk along the paved hiker/biker path that parallels one of the coves of Black Hill Park. Highlights were good views of 3 RED-HEADED WOODPECKERS, and numerous HOODED (displaying) MERGANSERS, BUFFLEHEADS, RING-NECK DUCKS and one subadult BALD EAGLE making passes at the ducks. This path has an entrance at the intersection of Waters Landing Dr. and Neerwinder St. (There is a sign at the beginning of the path - Neerwinder intersects Waters Landing twice) in Germantown if you don't want to go through the woods like Rick suggested in a previous post. I didn't see much at the bridge vantage point. But along the path from Ten Mile Creek Road were nice views of 100 TUNDRA SWANS, numerous BLACK , BUFFLEHEAD AND RING-NECKED DUCKS , 2 GADWALLS, 6 AMERICAN WIGEONS, 50 CANVASBACKS, 3 REDHEADS, 6 RUDDY DUCKS, 20 COMMON MERGANSERS AND 20+ HOODED MERGANSERS. This is a late comment on the posts regarding the re-introduction of Peregrine Falcons into the Eastern US. My understanding, based upon reading of pertinent literature and discussions with people involved in the introduction of the Peregrine, is that there were no breeding Peregrines in Eastern US/Canada south of Arctic Canada/Greenland. So, that the natural resumption of a breeding population of the Peregrine in the Eastern US would have been difficult. Also, last year and again this year, in Virginia, young Peregrines are being taken off bridges and placed on cliffs in an effort to establish them in their natural breeding areas. At least one of the locations being considered this year is a cliff in Maryland. I also have mixed feelings about the re-introduction of the Peregrine, but remember the days at Cape May when I felt fortunate to see 3 or 4 Peregrines in a day vs. the 50+ now on a good day . Happy birding, Dan Eberly Bethesda, MD ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================