Date: Sat, 18 Aug 2001 13:22:18 -0400 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Peter Lev Organization: @Home Network Subject: Reeves MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit I was at John Brown Rd. Sod Farm at 7:45 this morning. Lots of killdeer, 1 pectoral, 1 least. More birders than shorebird species. The Balt. Bird Club field trip arrived, en route to Bombay Hook, and I gave them the bad news. Then Scott Crabtree pulled up with the news that 2 Reeves were in the farm pond on Rt. 309, about 2 miles away. I followed Pete Webb and the BBC group. We found the pond but saw only 2 Lesser Yellowlegs. Then I saw a plumper bird near one of the Yellowlegs. Pete Webb took a long look and decided this was the Reeve! The bird was on the back left bank of the pond (where it becomes a narrow channel), and heat shimmer was bad, so we got only fair looks. We didn't see a second reeve until it flushed from the pond and flew past us, in the direction of John Brown Rd. The first bird was still in the pond. Directions: From Central Sod Farm, John Brown Rd.-- Take John Brown Rd. until it ends at 213. Turn left, go 100 yards or so, turn right on Rt. 309. The pond is about a mile away, on the left side. Also of note, the pond at the southwest corner of Terrapin Point Natural Area is in perfect shape for shorebirds-- it's a big mudflat with some shallow pools. The drawback here is the 1 mile walk from the parking lot to the pond. With binoculars only (because of the walk) I saw: 5 killdeer, 11 least sand, 1 semi-sand, 1 WHITE-RUMPED SAND, 8 lesser yellowlegs. Also 2 snowy egrets, 1 green heron, 1 gb heron, several Eastern kingbirds, 1 osprey (overhead). The shorebirds allowed me to get surprisingly close; perhaps they are used to peaple going by on the path. It was a very nice morning. I hope more folks find the reeves. Peter Lev Towson, MD ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================