Date: Mon, 23 Apr 2001 10:34:12 -0400 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Shireen Gonzaga Subject: Liberty Dam Trail (Marriotsville) Sun Apr22 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii; x-mac-type="54455854"; x-mac-creator="4D4F5353" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Hello, here's a migrant update for the Liberty Dam Trail at Marriotsville (near Randallstown, MD, in Baltimore Co.) on Sun/Apr22. - N. PARULA and B&W WARBLERS were serenading me the entire length of the trail! - A strange-looking "sparrow" feeding with WHITE-THROATED SPARROWS turned out to be a WORM-EATING WARBLER. :-) - Heard a YELLOW-THROATED WARBLER but the little rascal stayed hidden deep in the woods - An incredible experience that will keep me smiling for a long long time ... a pair of LOUISIANA WATERTHRUSH collecting nesting material. - OVENBIRDs singing deep in the woods - frisky BLUE-GRAY GNATCATCHERs and RUBY-CROWNED KINGLETS - heard the beautiful song of the WOOD THRUSH. - At the end of the trail in front of the dam, I was delighted to meet a boppin' SPOTTED SANDPIPER. (It wasn't mutual. :-( - a BELTED KINGFISHER pair made quite a ruckus when they spotted me at the dam. - A magnificent male YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLER flew in quite close to check out this really big ugly featherless bird, then flew off in disgust. - On the way back, heard a series of melodious whistles and warbles that could only have come from a ROSE-BREASTED GROSBEAK. Other wonderful birds along the trail were: lots of frisky and hilariously argumentative CAROLINA CHICKADEES, AMERICAN CROW, TUFTED TITMOUSEies, AM. GOLDFINCH, NORTHERN CARDINAL, WHITE-BR. NUTHATCH, MOURNING DOVE, RED-BELLIED WOODPECKER (heard), PILEATED WOODPECKER (heard), TURKEY VULTURE, CANADA GOOSE, CAROLINA WREN, and BROWN-HEADED COWBIRD. There were also some gorgeous little wildflowers in bloom but I had no idea what they were. My next project ... :-) It was my first visit to the trail, and a wonderful experience. Thanks to Debbie Terry for encouraging me to get out there. FYI: if you plan to visit the trail, wear old sneakers or boots. Parts of the trail are quite muddy. (I encountered a man running with his poodle. I've heard they're very smart dogs ... the poodle refused to walk across the mud, and the man had to carry him across! :-) cheers, shireen ============================ Shireen Gonzaga Freelance Science Writer Baltimore, MD whimbrel@home.com ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================