Date: Mon, 14 Oct 2002 20:08:28 -0400 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Paul Woodward Subject: McKee-Beshers WMA -10-13-02 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit 13 October 2002 Spent about 3 hours here, mostly around the impoundments. I guess the theme for the day was farewell for those species I probably won't see again this year- Chimney Swift (85), Tree Swallow (5). Rough-winged Swallow(3), and Catbird (1). Other birds of interest were 5 Black Vultures(not real common here), a Merlin, 2 snipe, soon to be Wilson's again, and 2 Red-headed Woodpeckers. The swifts were interesting. Every time I looked up into the overcast sky there seem to be more. They were feeding all the time I was here and by the time I left were low over the impoundments. The strangest sighting was a Great Egret that appeared to be injured. When I arrived I saw one standing in the large impoundment and another one nearby which was sitting looking like a swan. Eventually the standing bird flew over to the egret-swan and then flew away. Thinking that the remaining bird may have been shot I walk closer to it along Hunting Quarter Rd., but it jumped and stood up. Still didn't look right to me, but after 30 minutes or so it too flew away. I know that herons go bellyup in the water sometimes when they are fishing, but it seem strange to me that this bird would be sitting so long. Paul Woodward Fairfax City, VA 22032 grackling@worldnet.att.net ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================