Date: Tue, 21 May 2002 18:56:40 EDT Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Bob Mumford Subject: Re: Status of Western Kingbird, 5/21 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit On this lovely cool spring morning I drove up to Ft. McHenry in Baltimore to (hopefully) see the Western Kingbird reported there for the last week or so. I got off Interstate 95 29 miles north of the Beltway at exit 55, the last exit before the tunnel. Signage to the park is weak at best, but I did finally get to the front gate. The correct directions are to turn left on Key, left on Lawrence and left on Fort, following Fort a little over a mile to the park. There was a park ranger standing at the front gate, which I found odd until inside where I was greeted by...a madhouse! There were 5000 people inside for Human Flag Day, 4500 of which were school children. I stopped counting school buses at 100; cars were parked all over lawn areas adjacent to the regular parking lots. The flag was finished, photographs taken, but the exit was being organized with a loudspeaker audible from well over a hundred yards away. School children were doing what kids do...screaming and running around. Needless to say, birding was not ideal and the Kingbird was nowhere to be seen. I wandered down to the marsh area to leave the bedlam and the highlight was seeing a Spotted Sandpiper, a Killdeer and a green one liter 7up plastic bottle all in the same binocular view. I also had terrific looks at European Starling and House Sparrow. The smell from the gritty industrial area was, should we say, perfume to the nose. A mixture of unknown petroleum products, industrial chemicals and smoke, perhaps. I was not a happy birder. Then I encountered Jim Peters, who is known to most birders in the Baltimore area, I believe. I spent the next couple of delightful hours with Jim, being shown his handiwork in turning what was a waste area into a productive natural spot. He advised that he saw his 190th species this AM in that tiny island of green, all in the last 33 months. He also advised that the Western was present this AM, as it has been for the last twelve days. It hangs out in the sycamore trees on the right as you enter, paralleling a paved path and close to the water. It also perches and forages regularly on/from the split rail fence between the sycamores and the fort. Jim is a retired schoolteacher and a volunteer, who has constructed a nature trail, built steps, an automated weather station, an automated tide and water quality monitoring station, and installed numerous bird houses and feeding stations. He bands there weekly. He is a classic example of what one dedicated person can do for the environment...and a very pleasant person to boot! Although we searched diligently for the Western, the cacophony of thousands of invaders was apparently too much for him/her and it had cleared the immediate area. Jim believes it will be back tomorrow. Regardless, it may well be worth a trip up there just to chat with Jim and see his work. For an added benefit there is cheap gas by Maryland standards between the fort and 95. Bob Mumford Darnestown ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================