Date: Sun, 14 Apr 2002 21:13:43 -0400 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Stan Arnold Subject: Monk Parakeet; Ho Co/ Ba Co birding MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Hi Folks, Joan and I looked for the Monk Parakeet near Laurel yesterday morning on the way to the atlas block at 6:45 a.m. No sign of it. However, when swinging back through at 12:45 p.m., we didn't have to wait in the Target parking lot more than ten minutes before the bird showed up, and perched atop the power pole for good looks. It then flew to a low bush in front of us, picked up a slender twig, and carried it back to its home, where it did a cute side-step along the power line, then disappeared inside the nest. A repeat of directions: From the BW Parkway, travel WEST on Hwy 198 (toward Laurel) to the second traffic light, then turn left (south) onto Red Clay Rd. Go up the hill and turn left into the Target parking lot, and proceed to the northwest corner of the lot. Park here, and you can almost look eye-level to the top of the second power pole on Red Clay Rd. The parakeet's stick nest is located among some transformers about three feet from the top of the power pole structure. The nest area gets many visits from House Sparrows. The atlas block produced a few new birds for me for the season, and a few that won't be seen much longer this season. The southwestern quarter of my block in Howard Co., along the Patapsco River within the Orange Grove section of Patapsco Valley State Park, produced three singing NORTHERN PARULAs, three singing LOUISIANA WATERTHRUSHes, several BLUE-GRAY GNATCATCHERs, a HERMIT THRUSH, a BROWN THRASHER, a scruffy-looking BARRED OWL, perched in a tree over the road, and an E.. PHOEBE with nesting material in its mouth. Across the Swinging Bridge, in the northwestern quarter of my block in Baltimore Co. were another La. Waterthrush, another N. Parula, a Yellow PALM WARBLER, a SWAMP SPARROW at Glenartney, several D.E. JUNCOs (starting to get late in the season) and a N. CARDINAL with a big piece of straw in her mouth, near the pond. A visit to the lovely Belmont Conference Center property (private) in Ho. Co. with Sue Probst produced a jillion singing Chipping Sparrows, and a singing HOUSE WREN. Also, TREE SWALLOWs were flying over the pond, and have begun to build a nest in one of the bluebird boxes there. A BARN SWALLOW was perched on a wire over Foxhall Farms Rd. in Baltimore Co., my first in MD this year, while a handsome Red-shouldered Hawk circled overhead. A Sunday (4/14) evening walk at UMBC produced a pair of NRW Swallows, three Hermit Thrushes, Yellow Palm Warbler, and a SAVANNAH SPARROW, which may be a first for me on this campus. A bluebird box with a complete nest in it (as of last Wednesday) still has no eggs in it. A pair of Barred Owls, which were dueting here last Wed. eve, did not give an encore this evening. Stan Arnold Glen Burnie blackrail@earthlink.net ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================