Date: Sat, 8 Dec 2001 11:56:26 -0500 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: "Kurt R. Schwarz" Subject: HowCo Waterfowl, few, but good! I visited many of the Howard County waterfowl hotspots this morning in hopes the front and consequent bad weather might produce something really interesting. For the most part, the weather had NOT arrived yet, started dry, degenerated into drizzle, with ultimately turned into steady light rain by the time I wound up at 1100. Had to work for what I found, but some nice birds turned up. Alas, no scoters. Where ARE the Common Mergs? In any case, some birds worth seeing were present at the following locations: Note, at Triadelphia, Pigtail and the Dam were nowheresville. All the action was at Greenbridge. Greenbridge 0800-0900 Bufflehead - 2 females Red-breasted Merganser (NOT what I expected!) - 2 females, 3 males Bonaparte's Gull - 5 Wilde Lake 0930-1000 Canvasback - 2 adult males, 1 immature, I think Ring-necked Duck - 16 males, 6 females Centennial 1000-1100 Pied-billed Grebe - 3 Horned Grebes - 8, in nice, crisp, winter plumage. Very active. A nice surprise. Gadwall - 1 female Lesser Scaup - 2 males, 4 females. The flock of 5 has apparently grown! Bufflehead - 1 female The plug has been pulled at Rocky Gorge/Duckett. No interest at all at Brown's Bridge. Several ponds I checked were devoid of any interest. When I departed Centennial at 1100, made a quick check on the Horned Grebes. Could not relocate them again, but I didn't try too hard. They were on the main part of the lake, between boat ramp and Dam. So were the Scaup and the Buffie. The Gadwall was off the Concession stand. As for Greenbridge, all the birds were seen from the spot where the pipes cross the reservoir. The Bonaparte's were moving around a lot, and at one point settled between the boat ramp and Dam. Stay dry! Kurt Schwarz Howard County white-crown@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 ======================================================================= =========================================================================