Date: Sat, 17 Nov 2001 15:02:09 -0500 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Gail Mackiernan Subject: Red-headed WPs galore on C&O Canal! MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Hi everyone -- Barry and I decided to go and see the Red-headed Woodpeckers which have been reported recently along the C&O Canal upstream of Riley's Lock (Seneca). We found them very easily, thanks to Bob Mumford's directions. We had at least 6 individuals, and more probably 8 -- 2-4 full adults, 2 sub-adults with reddish heads but different intensity of color, and two YOY with gray heads. They seemed to be located between 100 - 350 yards upstream of the milemarker 24 post. Although we had two of the birds actually in trees in the (dry) canal bed, most are in standing snags which are in teh area on the other side of the far bank. There is a lot of damp ground/standing water there. The birds are very vocal, with a characteristic chattering contact call. We also had three Rusty Blackbirds leaf-turning on the wet ground, as well as four Sapsuckers,plus Downy, Hairy and Red-bellied WPs (Pileated eluded us, so we missed a "clean sweep"). Other nice birds were Hermit Thrush, Winter Wren (4, one singing), Golden-Crowned Kinglet and Bufflehead on the river. Cheers, Gail Mackiernan and Barry Cooper ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================