Date: Sun, 10 Mar 2002 10:05:20 -0600 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: "George M. Jett" Subject: Charles County Birds for March 9 Comments: To: SMAS Comments: cc: Marshall , Jlstasz@aol.com, Greg Miller MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Folks Lots of activity yesterday around the house. Actually it started Friday = night about 6:30 PM when the first wave of Tundra Swan flew by the = Waldorf house heading north. With good weather condition for travel, I = had hoped for a Barn Owl over the evening. I spent a couple hours, = until 2 AM listening but no Barn Owl. Lots of Tundra and lots of Canada = Geese were heading north. After dark it was impossible to estimate the = numbers but there were lots. =20 Dawn brought lots more Canada Geese but with the fog, not one could be = seen. A surreal birding experience. I know there was at least one Snow = Goose in the migrant flocks. =20 Later in the day Gwen and I headed to the southern parts of the Charles = County. We visited Morgantown (M), Cobb Island (C), Breeze Point Sewage = Treatment Plant (B), and Allen's Fresh (A). =20 Highlights along the way were: 2 Horned Grebe - M, C 100+ Double-crested Cormorant - M 3 Great Blue Heron - B, A; I had my first of the year at the house at = dusk. A fly by. 1 Black Vulture - C 9 Turkey Vulture all locations 2 Canada Geese - B 2 Wood Duck - Clifton, a traditional spot. Male/female. 50 Mallard - B 9 Ring-necked Duck (8 male, 1 female) - B 4 Lesser Scaup (3 male, 1 female) - B 50+ Long-tailed Duck - C 150 Bufflehead - C 2 Osprey - M; female was arranging the nest. 1 Red-tailed Hawk - A 1 Kestrel - A 25 American Coot - C 7 Killdeer - A 3 Snipe - A ? Ring-billed Gull All locations 35 Herring Gull - M=20 55 Great Black-backed Gull - M 1 Barn Owl A (unfortunately on private property in a barn). A county = bird for Gwen. 1 Tree Swallow - A 1 Ruby-crowned Kinglet - A 6 Horned Lark - A 3 Pine Warbler - A 6 Yellow-rumped Warbler - A Eastern Towhee - A 12 Savannah Sparrow - B 4 Field Sparrow - A 4 Eastern Meadowlark - A 1 female Baltimore Oriole A The bird of note (aside from the Barn Owl) was Bald Eagle by its = absence. Hardly a day of birding in Charles County happens without a = single Bald Eagle being sighted. Maybe all the fisherman out at Allen's = Fresh kept them away. The male Sharp-shinned Hawk is still feeding around the Waldorf = property. I caught it trying to pin down a Junco as we were leaving. = Starlings are a bigger meal I advised the bird. An Eastern Phoebe and = Pine Warbler have been singing the last two days here. The female = Yellow-bellied Sapsucker seems to have moved along. The ornamental = holly tree in the front yard will appreciate this change. Enjoy the birds. George =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D =========================================================================