Date: Tue, 22 May 2001 07:55:58 EDT Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Rick Sussman Subject: Unusual bird behavior... MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Hi all, I witnessed two unusual behaviors yesterday, both from rather common species, here at our little pond in Ashton, Montgomery County ,MD. The first was in the AM as I walked our dog around the pond. A pair of Killdeer raised (only) one young at the pond this spring (a first), and it was the juvenile that I watched as it swam across the water, towards an adult on shore.The young bird is now getting its adult-like plumage, but it's a bit duller looking and not quite so crisp as the parents. I know that shorebirds do swim, but I have never before seen a Killdeer do this. Had the water been shallower as it was earlier in the week before the rains, I would have thought it was walking in the water, but the water is now sufficiently deep that it was indeed swimming! The second observation also occured while walking the dog, this time after work about 6:15 PM. There was an adult Green Heron standing along the edge of the pond, and as we approached, it flew. Before it got ten feet out over the water however, it pulled in its wings, dropped to the waters surface, and caught a small fish (which must've been right at the surface) with its bill, while its feet dangled in the water. The heron never really lost a wing beat as it caught the fish (it actually seemed to hover, albeit briefly), and then continued to fly across to the other side of the pond! I have never witnessed a heron do this! Comments/questions? Rick Sussman Ashton,MD warblerick@aol.com ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================