Date: Thu, 14 Mar 2002 09:25:43 -0500 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Fred Shaffer Subject: Bird activity at Schoolhouse Pond The birds were especially busy at Schoolhouse Pond this morning. The pair of Mute Swans are nest building, the Fish Crows were courtship feeding, the Killdeer were doing their noisy flight-display, and a pair of Song Sparrows appeared to be dueting. They stayed in very close proximity, flying together from bush to bush, singing in response to the other. They were not aggessive to each other and one bird sang noticeably higher in pitch and more rapid than the other. The Wood Ducks and Woodpeckers also seem to be getting busy, and the Eastern Phoebes (3 yesterday) are singing vigorously. Other birds of interest the last day or so was a beautiful Fox Sparrow, a Brown Thrasher, and a flock of 23 Common Snipe (yesterday). The snipe flew around the pond in unison, than landed back in the mudflat at the rear of the pond. It is impressive how quickly a flock that large can become "invisible" along the mudflat amongst the vegetation. Fred Shaffer Patuxent Bird Club Crofton Fshaffer3@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 ======================================================================= =========================================================================