Date: Mon, 4 Nov 2002 09:09:22 -0500 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Paul Woodward Subject: McKee-Beshers WMA 11-03-02 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit 3 November 2002 Came out late to look for birds coming in to roost in the impoundments. Also wanted to walk part of the towpath but din.t make it in time. The water level is fairly high now with huge mats of floating duckweed. True to its name I had a Ruddy Duck, two female Buffleheads and four Lesser Scaup feeding in the mats. Also my first American Coot of the season and a Pied-billed Grebe. I only had 4 Canada Geese coming to roost after sunset, but I had 26 geese flying over plus 30 Wood Ducks and a Great Blue Heron. Also there were about 250 Rusty Blackbirds going into the smartweed for the night. On the way in I saw a large group of vultures on the communication tower north of River Road. By the time I positioned myself for a better look they had taken flight and seem to spiral up out of sight. I counted 30 turkeys and 5 blacks. 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 ======================================================================= =========================================================================