Date: Mon, 8 Jul 2002 20:52:54 -0400 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Sherry Peruzzi Subject: White Ibis, and Loon question MIME-version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Elayne Metter and I went to see the White Ibis at Black Hill Regional Park today. It was there, feeding busily, as of about 11:00 this morning. Paul O'Brien's directions were very clear, and two other birders who were already at the site helpfully pointed the ibis out to us as soon as we got there, so finding the bird was very easy. The other birders also pointed out a Wood Duck family -- mama and three small ducklings -- and an Eastern Bluebird that was nesting in a cavity in a dead tree rather than a manmade box. They also mentioned that they'd heard a Yellow-breasted Chat on the hill, which we subsequently found. We then went to check on the Pacific Loon at Seneca Creek State Park. It was there, but acting strangely, and Elayne suggested I ask about it here. It was doing two unusual things: swimming very rapidly in a straight line with its entire bill held below the surface of the water; and preening frantically, rolling over and digging at various places and rubbing its head vigorously on its back. It continued alternately preening and swimming like that for the entire 15-20 minutes we watched it. We thought perhaps parasites were bothering it, which would explain the frantic digging at itself, but then why would it be swimming so oddly? Sherry Peruzzi Howard County ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================