Date: Mon, 18 Mar 2002 20:57:26 -0600 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: "George M. Jett" Subject: Birds for the Weekend Comments: To: SMAS Comments: cc: Marshall , Jlstasz@aol.com MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Folks A late report from Charles County. Too much basketball. =20 On Friday night, March 15, I heard my first Towhee at the house at dusk. = This was soon followed by migrants Canada Geese and Tundra Swan. The = real treat was a small flock of Long-tailed Duck (Oldsquaw) that called = (owl, owllette) several times at 7:22 PM. They are on the move. A = single Barred Owl called later in the evening adding it as a probably = nester to the Atlas Block my property is in. In the morning (Saturday = March 16) I heard my first Fox Sparrow of the season at the house.=20 =20 Eric Gofreed and I met at 7:30 AM and went down to the southwest part of = Charles County along Rt. 224 to see what we could find. Before we left, = I heard a Pine Siskin calling over head at this property in Fort = Washington. (He also had four Purple Finches on Saturday at the same = location.) Unlike my last report (eagleless for Charles), about every = stop we had a pair of Bald Eagles. The day total was 16. Pheobe are = back and in good numbers. Nearly every over pass had one to three = birds. Where can you go and find more Bald Eagles than Phoebes? In = Charles County. A few Wood Ducks were also found a Thorne Gut as well = as 16 Cedar Waxwing. Pine Warblers were singing along the way and I = estimate we heard about 30 birds of different quality song. They can be = very variable. With Junco singing now, one can be confused. Soon the = Chipping Sparrow will begin singing and mass confusing will ensue. = Along the Potomac River good numbers of Osprey are also building nest. = Three Gadwall were in the pond on Rt. 6 near Port Tobacco, and a young = Red-tailed Hawk had just taken a squirrel and I had no film in the = camera. On Sunday Gwen and I went to Pomonkey Creek and Myrtle Grove. The = highlight was a Pied-billed Grebe at Myrtle Grove. This species was a = confirm nesting bird at this location the past two years. I am hopeful = this will be confirmed during the Atlas project when June rolls around. = We also had about 12 Flicker, three Towhee, 30 Song Sparrow, 10 Swamp = Sparrow, 25 Junco, and 25 White-throated Sparrow. A quick stop at Bumpy = Oak road gave Gwen her seventh specie of woodpecker for the morning. = The resident Red-headed were active near the railroad crossing. We had = had Sapsucker and Pileated at Pomonkey Creek and the rest at the house = before we left. At Pomonkey creek ducks were in short supply. We had about 6 Blue-winged = Teal, 8 Wood Ducks, still a nice collection of about 50 Black Duck, 70 = or so Mallard to go along with two Great Blue Heron, and one Bald Eagle. = Fisherman were out and the birds were shy. On Sunday I added Herring Gull and first Yellow-rumped Warbler for the = house year list. I also saw the female Sapsucker that had been hanging = around for over a month. Enjoy your atlasing. 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 =========================================================================