Date: Fri, 3 Aug 2001 13:46:22 -0400 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Stan Arnold Subject: Least Terns in Howard Co. MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Hi Folks, The almost daily rounds through Howard Co. this summer have paid off today with the sighting of three Least Terns sitting on buoys out in Triadelphia Reservoir, as viewed from the bridge at Brighton Dam. I sighted the terns at about 7:25 this morning, and studied them for a while, making mental notes, knowing that any tern besides Caspian is a scarcity or rarity in Howard Co. The birds were all small, and similar in size. They had white foreheads, totally pale bills (I couldn't actually see yellow from the 300-400 yard distance viewed), and dark caps. There are six buoys out in the reservoir, and the birds occupied three sequential buoys while viewed. From my recollection, Least Tern was not included in the Howard Co. birders guide (ca 1995), suggesting a real rarity, so at about 7:45 I was on the phone with Bonnie Ott to report the sighting. I then left the area, to check out other parts of the reservoir (Pigtail & Big Branch), and when I returned an hour later, the birds were gone, perhaps disturbed by boaters near the buoys. Bonnie and Jo Solem had meanwhile been to the dam and not seen the birds, so they went and checked other parts of the reservoir from Greenridge Rd. in Montgomery Co., but were unsuccessful. Jo and I then went to Duckett's Reservoir at Brownsbridge Rd., but saw no terns there, either. Apparently, if accepted by the appropriate records committee, this would be a first county record of this species. My feeling, however, is that this species was due to show up here eventually. My sense is that reports of this species have been increasing in all or most of the counties that surround the bay (my own observations of this species have greatly increased over the past year), and with almost annual sightings at the Patuxent Research Refuge North Tract over the past few years, I strongly felt that Least Tern was likely to show up in Howard Co. before too long. My hope is that interested birders will be able to get out early on Sat. and Sun. to look for these birds. I have no sense on whether they might still be around. Unfortunately, I'll be out of state this weekend, or I'd be out looking again. Stan Arnold Glen Burnie blackrail@eathlink.net ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================