Date: Mon, 4 Mar 2002 18:08:31 EST Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Jim Stasz Subject: Pond Hopping, March 3 & Eurasian Wigeon in Howard MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Hi Folks! On Sunday, March 3, Matt Hafner & I went pond hopping to check for waterfowl. Overall the numbers and diversity were lower than anticipated. If birds were migrating, the Saturday storm did not force them to drop in. I suspect that birds were not moving. The results: Lake Frank, Montgomery Co.: Mallard, 2, Canada Goose, 1, Hooded Merganser 2, Wood Duck 4, Belted Kingfisher 1 Lake Needwood, Montgomery Co.: Mallard 11, Ring-necked Duck 2, Hooded Merganser 2, Wood Duck 1, American Wigeon 8, Gadwall 2, Belted Kingfisher 2 Zion Rd pond,, Montgomery Co.: Bufflehead 15. Ring-necked Duck 8 Sundown Rd. pond, Montgomery Co.: Ring-necked Duck 39, American Black Duck 1, Hooded Merganser 2, Bufflehead 1 Brighton Dam, Montgomery/Howard Co.: Common Merganser 22 U.MD Central Farm, Howard Co.: Green-winged Teal, 3, Mallard 8. American Black Duck 5. Black X Mallard 1, Ring-billed Gull 500, Herring Gull 20, Common Snipe 1 Emmaus Rd. pond, Howard Co.: American Wigeon 15, Ring-necked Duck 15 Daisy Rd. pond, Howard Co.: American Wigeon 13, Ring-necked Duck 15, Mallard 8, American Black Duck 8 Maple Dell Farm [wet pasture on w. side of Daisy Rd. about 1 mile south of Rt. 144], Howard Co.: American Wigeon 45, EURASIAN WIGEON 1 female. The female Eurasian Wigeon was obviously different from all of the female American Wigeons because it lacked rufous tones [except for a few feathers on the tarsi]. The head did not contrast at all with the breast or flanks. We got good looks only when the bird was feeding and poor looks when a Red-tailed Hawk flushed all of the wigeon. About 1/2 of the wigeon returned to the field, but the other half, including the Eurasian, vanished to the NNW. Piney Run Park, Carroll Co.: Pied-billed Grebe 25, Canada Goose, 2000, Mallard 3, American Black Duck 6, Ring-necked Duck 35, Canvasback 20, Redhead 3, Lesser Scaup 4, Common Merganser 25, Red-breasted Merganser 1, Hooded Merganser 100+, Ruddy Duck 1505, American Coot 40, Ring-billed Gull 75, Herring Gull 2, American Crow carrying nesting material. Lake Liganore, Frederick Co,: ducks 0, Black Vulture pair in coursthip flight, Clouded Sulphur 3. Kershner's Pond, Frederick Co.: Tundra Swan 21, Canada Goose 533, American Black Duck 35, Mallard 35, Bufflehead 4, Ring-necked Duck 52, Northern Pintail 1, Ruddy Duck 12 Monocay R. @ Lilypons, Frederick Co.: Common Merganser 16 Black Hills Res., Montgomery Co.: Pied-billed Grebe 12, Gadwall 8, Bufflehead 4, Ring-necked Duck 1 Good Birding! Jim Jim Stasz North Beach MD jlstasz@aol.com ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================