Date: Fri, 6 Jul 2001 14:34:19 -0400 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Stan Arnold Subject: Re: Ruddy duck brood at Hurlock Sewage Ponds MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Carol, The Yellow book shows no nesting dates for the Ruddy Duck, though it does show a breeding record for Baltimore Co. This may be a Dorchester Co. first. The Ruddy Ducks have summered at Hurlock for as long as I've been going there (since summer 1999), but I've heard of no nesting attempts. I imagine the MD/DC records committee may want some documentation on this. Someone may want to estimate the age of the young to determine egg date and hatch date. Stan Arnold Glen Burnie blackrail@earthlink.net -----Original Message----- From: Carol Erwin To: MDOSPREY@HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM Date: Friday, July 06, 2001 2:03 PM Subject: [MDOSPREY] Ruddy duck brood at Hurlock Sewage Ponds >I am relatively new to the list, as well as new to the area. I keep close >tabs on the Osprey though have never posted before. Harry Armistead asked >me to post my sighting, so with a nervous twitter in my stomach... > >On Monday evening, on a side trip during my folks visit to the eastern >shore, Mom and I drove over to Hurlock Sewage Ponds. It was coming on dusk. >We flushed a female Ruddy Duck with a brood of 8 hatchlings from the shore >of the northwestern pond. We were ~40 yards from the hen and brood when >they flushed into the water. The hen did a wonderful display to distract us >from her brood by flapping her wings and skimming just above the water >creating a ruckus of noise including splashing water and quacking. The >young, after one briefly attempted to imitate the hen by flapping tiny >wings, swam away from us and met the hen a couple of minutes later in the >distance. The drake was also seen hanging around the brood, though the >entire family was elusive. > >It was getting dark by this time, including the hen and brood, I counted >~18 Ruddy ducks. If someone from the list would like to go out and confirm >this sighting it would be fantastic. I am told by Harry this may be a state >first, or at least a rarity for nesting. I am fairly confident, but another >look would be good. I apologize for my late posting. > >Good birding, >Carol Erwin > >Carol Erwin >Patuxent Wildlife Research Center >USGS-BRD >12011 Beech Forest Dr >Laurel, MD 20708-4041 >(301) 497-5713 office >(301) 497-5675 fax >cerwin@usgs.gov > >======================================================================= >To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com >with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey >======================================================================= ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================