Date: Fri, 17 Aug 2001 12:53:24 -0400 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Stan Arnold Subject: BB Whistling Duck--not MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Hi Folks, I was at Selby's Landing (PG County) at 6:30 this a.m., soon to be accompanied by Paul Pisano, Paul O'brien, and Mary Ann Todd. We stood out on the dock and scanned up and down the river for the better part of two hours without success, then Paul Pisano and I headed up to Jackson Landing, where we scanned, saw little of interest, so decided to go out in a canoe. The canoe trip easily gave us the best access to the waterfowl, and we saw hundreds of Mallards, woodies, black ducks and teal, but alas no whistling duck. We had two good concentrations of ducks: one in a cove between Jackson Landing and Selby's Landing, probably not visible from any accessable land vantage points; and the other on the north side of the Railroad Trail in the Jug Bay Wetlands Sanctuary, in Anne Arundel Co. The aquatic vegetation was very thick off the Railroad Trail, and the water shallow. At times we ran amuck, reminiscent of Greg Miller's famous canoe trip in the Everglades. There may have been many unflushed ducks in this vegetation, and since this entire area is visible from the Railroad Trail of the sanctuary, this would be a good place to scan with a scope. I'm not convinced the duck is gone, and urge folks to try again this weekend. The Jug Bay Wetlands Sanctuary is opened both Saturday and Sunday from 9 to 5, and has a $2.50 per person entry fee. Directions: from US 301 in Upper Marlboro, exit east on Rte 4, cross the river and go another mile or so then exit right on Plummer Lane. Go to the first intersection and turn right on Wrighton Rd., go less than a mile, and turn left onto a road through some fields that will take you to the sanctuary (there is a sign there). The railroad trail will offer the best view of the river, but the observation platform near the visitor center also offers good views to the north. For those wanting to search from Jackson Landing on the PG Co. side of the river, the Patuxent River Park gate opens at 8 a.m., and there is a $7 daily use fee or a $10 season use fee. However, there is no usage fee if you pay the $15 to rent a canoe. Directions: Take US 301 a few miles south of Upper Marlboro and turn left on Croom Station Rd. After crossing a railroad track, the road will end at Croom Rd. Turn left. Follow this road a mile or two, then turn left on Croom Airport Rd. After a couple miles, a sign and gate to the left will take you into the Patuxent River Park. If you continue straight, the road will eventually take you to a T intersection, with a gate on the left and a gate on the right (this is Merkle). The road to the left goes to Selby's Landing. The gate was closed when I arrived at 6:30 a.m., but was opened shortly after that, and others were able to drive to the landing. This is such a good Maryland bird, I hope others will try for it, which I may do again Sunday morning. By the way, some of the birds seen: WOOD DUCK--50 AM. BLACK DUCK--35 MALLARD--200 BLUE-WINGED TEAL--25 GREEN-WINGED TEAL?--4 BLACK TERN--one flying over the AA Co. side of the river and another perched on a stake near Jackson's Landing on PG side, perhaps the same bird. Good luck! 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 ======================================================================= =========================================================================