Date: Mon, 19 Nov 2001 15:08:50 -0500 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Shireen Gonzaga Subject: Leonid Bird Count, November 18, 2001 (near Reisterstown, MD) MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Leonid Bird Count November 18, 2001 November 18, 2001 will go down in history (at least for 9 people) as the dawn of a new scientific discipline: astroornithology, the study of birds during meteor showers. The following is an account of our observations and sporadic insights. Location: A field behind Gail Frantz's house, in farmland near Reisterstown in Baltimore County, MD. Time: 3:55 a.m. to 6:15 a.m. Weather: Foggy, mid-30s Fahrenheit Observers: Gail Frantz, Harry Frantz, Shireen Gonzaga, Elliot Kirshbaum, Nancy Kirshbaum, Ruth-Ann Scott, Don Scott, Peter Webb, Carolyn Webb. Observing Protocol: Birds had to be seen or heard between two meteor events. BIRD OBSERVATIONS (seen or heard) Canada Goose Carolina Wren American Robin Northern Mockingbird Song Sparrow White-throated Sparrow Dark-eyed Junco Northern Cardinal Purple Finch Total: 9 species Note: Peter Webb claimed to have seen a Painted Bunting, temporarily illuminated by the light of a particularly large meteor. His observations were unanimously rejected. (It's most likely attributed to a meteor impact event to his head.) CELESTIAL OBSERVATIONS (seen or heard) Meteor: - Elliot Kirschbaum was the only member of the observing party who thought to get a meteor rate. He estimated 900 meteors/hour. Pretty darned good considering the fog and that he was looking in one direction. - Many meteors were quite bright. Some left lingering trails that had green and/or blue hues. Except for the above- mentioned incident concerning Peter Webb and the Painted Bunting, there were no observed meteor impacts. - The meteors were clearly seen emanating from its radiant point in the constellation of Leo, coming out from all directions. Meteor trails close to Leo had short tails (due to them being "head-on") whereas those further away had long trails. - We developed the following meteor classification nomenclature: 1) woo! 2) woo-woo!! (two woo's) 3) ahh! 4) wow! 5) there's one! 6) 4 at a time!!!! 7) another one! 8) amazing! 9) you can still see the trail! 10) I missed it! Other Celestial Objects: International Space Station Iridium 32 Telecommunications Satellite Beehive Open Star Cluster in Cancer (Messier 44) Hyades Open Star Cluster in Taurus Pleiades Open Star Cluster in Taurus (M45) Orion Nebula in Orion's sword (Messier 42) Jupiter with 2 Galilean moons visible through binoculars Saturn Many pretty twinking stars It was a delightful morning, filled with the wit and humor of the many comedians in the group. As well as the sounds of howling dogs and howling National Guardsmen (from nearby Camp Fretter). -- Shireen Gonzaga Baltimore whimbrel@home.com ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================