Date: Fri, 4 May 2001 19:03:52 -0400 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Shireen Gonzaga Subject: Pennyfield Lock, Montgomery Co., May 4 2001. MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Hi MDOspreyers, cluck! cluck! Gail Frantz was too chicken to post this so she made me do it. :-) It was our first birding expedition together, loads of fun -- she's a one-person birding & comedy experience! (Doesn't that sound like a great show for a community access cable channel? It certainly wouldn't be dignified enough for PBS.) We decided to try our luck at Pennyfield Lock, Montgomery Co.. After a few wrong turns, we got there at 7am, and spent about 3.5 hours walking along the C&O canal. Birdwise, it was an incredibly slow day. Pennyfield Lock is very popular, even on weekdays. Due to lack of birds, we took time out to observe other critters, and have included those below. Here's a summary: Total bird species: 39 Total birders: about 30 Total cars: 31 BirdSpecies-to-birders ratio: 1.3:1 BirdSpecies-to-cars ratio: 1.26:1 Bird Highlights: Double-crested Cormorant (2, seen in Potomac) Great Blue Heron (1, flying) Wood Duck (2, in Potomac) Yellow-billed Cuckoo (5!!! Woo hoooo!!! Saw 4! Heard them too!) Ruby-throated Hummingbird (1, seen) Pileated Woodpecker (1, heard) Eastern Wood-Pewee (1, heard, first this year for us) Acadian Flycatcher (1, heard, first this year for us) Eastern Phoebe (1, heard) Great Crested Flycatcher (2, seen & heard, first this year for us) Red-eyed Vireo (several, heard) Northern Rough-winged Swallow (1, seen) Blue-gray Gnatcatcher (several, seen & heard) Wood Thrush (2+, heard) Northern Parula (3-4, heard) Yellow Warbler (1, heard) Black-throated Blue Warbler (1, heard) Prothonotary Warbler (1, heard) Common Yellowthroat (3, heard) Scarlet Tanager (1, heard) White-throated Sparrow (several, seen & heard) * Indigo Bunting (lots !!!, seen & heard in buntingsurround!) Baltimore Oriole (3+, seen & heard) American Goldfinch (several, seen & heard) * - There were a lot of them in one area, so much so that we lost count. Gail thought they were migrating through. That was a really neat experience, to be surrounded by so many singing Indigos. Due to the lack of birds, I was forced to look at butterflies. Luckily, Gail knew her butterflies and now, I think I'm interested in them (I need another hobby like a dog needs ticks). Butterflies: Juvenal's Duskywing Pearl Crescent Spring Azure Zebra Swallowtail Tiger Swallowtail Red Admiral Cabbage We also noticed lots of other critters: swimmin' Eastern Kingsnake - 2 Muskrat -1 turtles (Painted?) - several spawning carp - several BUGS - billions and billions!!! (mostly swarming around my head) birders - ~30 joggers - 4 dog walkers - 1 fishermen - 3 misc. strangers in parking lot - 5 dogs - 2 cats - 1 (calico) cars: 31 Hey, this is what happens when there aren't enough birds .... All in all, a very pleasant morning. Gail and the cuckoos were the definite highlights of this trip. cheers, shireen -- Shireen Gonzaga 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 ======================================================================= =========================================================================