Date: Sat, 9 Feb 2002 19:13:09 -0500 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Peter Webb Subject: Longspur(s) persist at Oland Road MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit On a Baltimore Bird Club trip re-scheduled for today (cancelled on the snowy Saturday Jan. 19) we found a flock of about 150-200 Horned Larks north of Oland Road and too distant to scope, flying around and feeding among corn stubble a couple hundred yards away, equidistant from Oland and Buckeystown Roads. A smaller group of 15-20 birds was in the short grass on the south side 10 am, with one Lapland Longspur among them; the group flew out to join the main group about 10:15. We also found about five White-crowned Sparrows in the brushy field between Cap Stine Road and a golf course, between two sharp right-angle turns in Cap Stine Road, where Tree Sparrows had been reported earlier. The W-C's five we saw (may have been more there) included 3 adults and 2 im's. No sign of any Rough-legged Hawks or Snow Buntings. Perhaps 4 or 5 Kestrels at various locations, not abundant but definitely present. Insects: unidentified, but those beetles associated with Box Elders were numerous and flying, and at Nolan's Ferry (C&O Canal, south end of New Design Road) the only birds were Starlings acting like Purple Martins, hawking Stone Flies, which were emerging from the river along the shoreline to shed from nymphs (underwater swimmers with legs) to adult flying insects swarming near the river and providing the Starlings with a rich supply of aeroplankton; the flies also landed on our clothes and getting in our cars with us when we left. Overall, 48 species of birds for 7 observers plus a group of birders from Montgomery County who didn't get to see the Longspur before it flew. The leader played a mini-disc for the group with songs and calls of Horned Larks and Lapland Longspurs. Two other birders were present and may or may not have caught up with the Longspur(s). Pete Webb Baltimore, Md (USA) pwebb@bcpl.net (home, after 6) pew@niroinc.com (work, 830-5 M-F) ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================