Date: Sun, 9 Dec 2001 14:53:12 -0500 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Ray Kiddy Subject: Northern Shrike at Finzel Swamp, Garrett Co. Comments: cc: voice@capaccess.org MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Hi MD, About 10:00 this morning, Sunday, 12/9/01, I found an adult Northern Shrike at Finzel Swamp in Garrett Co. The birding had been very quiet. I had circled the pond and headed back towards the entrance (the parking area). About 50 yards short of the entrance I pished trying to get a look at what sounded like a sparrow in the grass. The Shrike popped immediately to the top of a small tree about 25 yards away, then flew quickly to three other perches trying to find the source of the pishing before dropping out of sight into the trees along the edge of the field. I retrieved my scope and found the bird two additional times further north of the original spot. I appeared to be actively hunting as it perched high, searching and then dropping into the brush. I had good scope views of the bird at about 100 yards. I judged it to be a Northern based upon the bill length which appeared to be about 2/3s as long as the length of the mask behind the eye. The mask did not extend across the top of the bill. The flanks appeared to be lightly barred although this was subtle at best. The back and head were a uniform light gray and the underparts a uniform off-white color. I left about 12:30 having not seen the bird for about an hour. The habitat would seem to be to a Shrike's liking so it may stick around. While there I also had a flyover of 9 loons with a single somewhat later. To reach Finzel Swamp, take Exit 29 from I-68 onto Finzel Rd. north. After about 1 mile and just past the fire tower on the right, turn right on Cranberry Swamp Rd. just past the ball field. Follow Cranberry Swamp Rd. less than 1/2 mile bearing left into the Nature Conservancy's preserve. Drive along the access road through the swamp to the parking area. The Shrike was initially found about 50 yards into the field on the left side of the trail. DeLorme 67 A4. During Saturday's rain, the Terminus of the C&O Canal in Cumberland had about 165 Ring-billed Gulls with 1 Bonaparte's. Rocky Gap had 10 Ring-bills and 6 Bonaparte's. McCagh's Pond along Mason Rd. had a single female Common Goldeneye. Happy trails .... Ray Kiddy Cumberland, Allegany Co., MD rrkiddy@hereintown.net ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================