Date: Sun, 18 Nov 2001 17:33:55 -0500 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Stan Arnold Subject: Birds & Meteors. MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Hi Folks, Did some birding this weekend in Howard, Carroll, Baltimore, and Anne Arundel counties. Friday, 16 November found me walking along the Patapsco River along the path west from Henryton Rd. There was a fair amount of activity this warm November afternoon with highlights on the Howard Co. side of the river bing YELLOW-BELLIED SAPSUCKER and WINTER WREN, and highlights on the Carroll Co. side of the river being the same two species, but different birds. Alpha Ridge Park, in Howard Co. had yet another Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, but nothing else to report. Saturday was spent out on the island, Hart-Miller that is, and though Gene will post the official results of that outing, highlights for me were BREWER'S BLACKBIRD, GREAT CORMORANT, SNOW BUNTING, SHORT-EARED OWL, COMMON GOLDENEYE, and LONG-TAILED DUCK, all of these being first of the season for me, and the blackbird being a state first. This morning (Sunday, 11/18) I visited Sandy Point State Park in Anne Arundel county, hoping that some of the nice birds from Hart-Miller would have percolated a few miles south down the bay. No such luck, and the park rendered its usual disappointing assortment of birds. Best finds of the morning were outside the park, with a GREAT EGRET in the pond across US 50 from the park, just abeam the Bay Bridge toll booths; and an immature SNOW GOOSE hanging out with some Canadas along Bay Head Rd., about a mile west of the park. Highlight of today was not birds, but rather meteors. Thanks to the heads up offered by Tom Beal on this listserve several weeks ago, I made plans to spend the early morning hours counting meteors from the Leonid meteor shower. I was not disappointed as I counted 247 meteors between 4:20 and 6:00 a.m., the best shower I've ever seen. I had one meteor just before 5 a.m. that left a trail lasting for about ten seconds, and on several occasion I saw simultaneos meteors, with as many as four at one time. I viewed from my front yard in Glen Burnie, where light polution reigns. I imagine that folks in dark sky conditions with good clear horizons, such as at the beach, must have had a spectacular show. The best show I'd seen before this was the August 1994 Perseid shower, where I counted 54 meteors in 52 minutes, nothing compared to this morning's extravaganza. One last note: The cheapest gas price on the western shore continues to be 105.9 at several stations along Veteran's Highway, which parallels I-97 between exits 10 and 12. This is comparable to Eastern Shore prices, but still pales to the 95.9 price in NJ two weeks ago. 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 ======================================================================= =========================================================================