Date: Wed, 5 Sep 2001 07:57:55 -0400 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: "Magnusson, Nancy C." Subject: Re: Ruddy Turnstone in Montgomery/Howard Cos MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Hi, everyone - The ruddy turnstone was still at Greenbridge as of 7:15 this morning - Bonnie Ott and Emy Holdridge were still there when I left to go back to work. This is a first Howard County record - the flock nicely flew out over the water (and returned) thanks to a passing cormorant. Directions are below in Stan's original posting. Nancy Magnusson Howard County, MD -----Original Message----- From: Stan Arnold [mailto:blackrail@EARTHLINK.NET] Sent: Tuesday, September 04, 2001 9:39 PM To: MDOSPREY@HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM Subject: [MDOSPREY] MDOSPREY] Ruddy Turnstone in Montgomery/Howard Cos Hi Folks, I was out making the rounds through Howard Co. after school today. My last stop of the day was the Greenbridge Rd. access to Triadelphia Reservoir, which is in Montgomery Co. From the parking area there, I walked down to the boat ramp and scanned the buoys towards the dam, only to find the same 7 or 8 cormorants that have been there the past several weeks. So, from the top of the parking lot, I walked along the wide path that the pipelines follow down to the waters edge, so I could get a a look at the sand/gravel bar where the terns usually hang out. While scoping the bar I was able to pick out some Killdeer and five Caspian Terns, some partially hidden as they sat on the far side of the bar. Then I chanced upon a shorebird that looked wierd. It appeared to have a hood, but was not colored over the entire breast as in the Pectoral Sandpiper. I studied the bird, and then I watched as it flipped stones over, one after another. Ahah! A juvenile Ruddy Turnstone! It was after 6 p.m., and there wasn't much daylight left. I wasn't sure just how good the find was, so I grabbed my scope and bolted for the car to get my camera. I huffed and puffed in the heavy, humid air, and once at the car, I checked the Howard Co. birders guide to see how this bird was rated. What? Not even listed? Phew. Must be a good one. With scope and camera in hand, I high-tailed it back to water's edge. Aaghkkk! The bird was gone. I moved in for a closer look. Ah, there it is again, on the other side of the spit. I set up the scope, and shot a few shots through the lens. Up I crept another 100 feet, scope set, click, click. And so I went. I got to within 100 feet of the bird. Great scope views. Bright orange red legs, and the hood was now a noticeable bib. The bird continued to flip stones over. I figured I shot about a roll of film. It finally flushed, but I didn't see it depart. I figured it must have slipped away while I was viewing a flock of 14 BLUE-WINGED TEAL take off. Other birds in the area were a SEMIPALMATED SANDPIPER and two PECTORAL SANDPIPERs. Not having a cell phone, I got to the nearest pay phone at Brighton Dam, and called Bonnie Ott, who was out walking the dog. Jo Solem wasn't home either, so I headed home. And now the bad news. I was thinking of driving straight to Ritz Camera to drop off the roll of film. While stopped at a red light, I started to rewind the film into the camera, and then got a sinking feeling. There was no resistance on the winder. The camera had no film in it. If I didn't have bad luck, I would have no luck at all. I suppose I haven't used that camera in two years, and I guess in my age and wisdom decided that there was no sense leaving film in a camera that would spend summers in a hot car and not get used. I always used to leave film in it, but I guess I just got too smart to do that. So, this interesting bird for the piedmont goes unrecorded on film. I'm hoping that all of this will prompt someone else to go out and try to document this bird. Of course, Greenbridge is the best place to start, but someone with a kayak or canoe or other water craft might do better in relocating it. Directions to Greenbridge: follow Rte 650 (New Hampshire Ave.) north, and after it crosses Brighton Dam Rd., go about 1/2 mile, and there are warning signs with flashing lights that let you know you are approaching Greenbridge Rd. Make the sharp right turn onto Greenbridge, and follow it about 1/2 mile to the parking area. From the top of the paved parking area, go through an open gate and cross a grassy parking area until coming to a wide path (under which are pipelines). Follow this path to the right, down and up and down again, until it comes to the water's edge. Scope the sand/gravel bar to the left front. By the way, other birds seen during the outing were a PROTHONOTARY WARBLER and a female SCARLET TANAGER at Henryton Rd. The sod farms at Rte 32/Rte 99, Hardy Rd., Daisy Rd., and Jennings Chapel Rd. had nothing but Killdeer, and were uninteresting. 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 ======================================================================= ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================