Date: Tue, 26 Jun 2001 17:37:23 -0400 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Stan Arnold Subject: Ramblings Around Howard Co. MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Hi Folks, I had to get out and get a late-season fix of singing birds. In a few short weeks the woods, fields, and meadows will fall silent, and it will be time to be out checking sod farms, plowed fields, and mudflats for shorebirds. I made the rounds in Howard Co. yesterday and today. No surprises, just lots of nice birds. The highlights: SPOTTED SANDPIPER WILLOW FLYCATCHER N. ROUGH-WINGED SWALLOW CLIFF SWALLOW YELLOW-THROATED VIREO YELLOW-THROATED WARBLER WORM-EATING WARBLER KENTUCKY WARBLER LA. WATERTHRUSH YELLOW-BREASTED CHAT GRASSHOPPER SPARROW After returning from a Great Lakes trip on Sunday (picked up Kirtland's Warbler), I began making the local rounds yesterday (Mon., 25 June) with an early morning WILLOW FLYCATCHER at Centennial Park. Wilde Lake still hosted the DOUBLE-CRESTED CORMORANT mentioned in a recent post by Dave Perry, but I did not find the Black-crowned Night Heron that he saw. At Lake Kittamaqundi I saw a lone N. ROUGH-WINGED SWALLOW. A single GREAT BLUE HERON sat atop the heron rookery there. Today's outing was longer and more far-reaching, with better finds. Brighton Dam at daybreak hosted the usual CLIFF SWALLOWs, but in good numbers as I counted 47 of them perched on some railings near the dam, about an even mix of adults and immatures, and another 30 or 40 flying in a mass nearby. It isn't often one gets to study these birds perched. GRASSHOPPER SPARROWs were heard singing in many fields around the county, in particular grassy fields along Triadelphia Rd., Dorsey Mill Rd., Jennings Chapel Rd., and Daisy Rd. The best stop of the day was at the Henryton Road access to Patapsco Valley State Park. Here I heard a WORM-EATING WARBLER as I drove the road to the river, and then along the river path I picked up all five common woodpecker species along with two singing YELLOW-THROATED VIREOs, NORTHERN PARULA, BLACK&WHITE WARBLER, OVENBIRD, and two singing LOUISIANA WATERTHRUSHes. A voice I couldn't really identified may have been CERULEAN WARBLER, as it came from a location where I had Cerulean on several occasions in May. I also heard a SPOTTED SANDPIPER, but intervening vegetation precluded my getting a look at the river from where the call originated. Alpha Ridge Park produced a handsome male ORCHARD ORIOLE, and after leaving the park, heading west on Old Frederick Rd. (Rte 99), a YELLOW-BREASTED CHAT was heard chatting near the roadside. A late morning stop at the Marriottsville Rd. access to Patapsco Valley park added a WOOD DUCK hen with five ducklings, another Yellow-throated Vireo, and several singing YELLOW-THROATED WARBLERs. My final stop was at the Daniels Rd. access to Patapsco Valley Park where a singing KENTUCKY WARBLER was a pleasant sound to hear. I can't get enough of our vocalizing songbirds. I'll miss them when the season is over. Stan Arnold Glen Burnie blackrail@earthlink.net ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================