Date: Fri, 10 May 2002 20:26:00 -0400 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Sherry Peruzzi Subject: Lake Kittamaqundi, Howard Cty. MIME-version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT This afternoon I spent a couple of hours birding at the north and east sides of Lake Kittamaqundi. The low water level has exposed mud flats and sand bars on the east side of the lake, where I enjoyed the best looks I've ever had at a Spotted Sandpiper and a Solitary Sandpiper. The Spotted bobbed along the mud flat where I was standing, wandering close enough that my binoculars couldn't focus on it. The Solitary, which was also quite close, seemed to be favoring its right leg as it walked along the edge of a sand bar. The Great Blue Heron nests in the leafy tree north of the island are best seen from the west side of the lake, but there is an excellent close view of the two nests in the dead tree on Nomanisan Island from the path between the lake and the Little Patuxent River. There were three chicks in the lower nest, but I was surprised to see five in the upper nest. I watched them for about 20 minutes, during which Mama came and fed them. All five were begging and calling loudly, but only one or two were fed, and the rest were ignored; does anyone know if that's usual, with different chicks fed on different trips, or if it had to do with having so many chicks? After feeding, the chicks squabbled with one another while Mama perched on a branch above the nest. Then all five fuzzy-headed babies settled down to preen. Above the lake were Tree Swallows, Barn Swallows, Northern Rough-wings and Purple Martins, all swooping and diving busily. A male Purple Martin landed briefly on the sand bar, glowing in the late afternoon sun. Other highlights were: Belted Kingfisher Red-bellied Woodpecker Downy Woodpecker Cedar Waxwing Eastern Bluebird Red-eyed Vireo Baltimore Oriole Sherry Peruzzi Columbia, Howard County PS -- Hi to whoever was looking back at me from the bench on the other side of the lake! If you read this, e-mail me privately and tell me who you are! ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================