Date: Mon, 10 Feb 2003 18:57:45 -0500 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Matt Hafner Subject: Big January Results Comments: cc: kcaughey@wam.umd.edu MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Sorry for the delay in posting, but starting classes got in the way of email (and birding). For anyone who didn't know, I was attempting a Big January, where I was trying to see as many bird species as possible in Maryland in the month of January. Some of you may remember that this was the kind of crazy stuff the Marshall Iliff would attempt when he lived in Maryland. In 1999, Marshall found 177 species in Maryland in the month of January. I used that year as a basis for my list as it was a similar year bird-wise (no finches). The short story, for those who don't care to read the whole post (I don't blame you, I only expect about 5 readers anyway), is 176. Yup, one less than Marshall in 1999. The truth is, if I hadn't gotten a little lazy mid-month, I could have had 180. But, I'd rather blame it on the fact that I took a trip to Florida for a week and couldn't anticipate the massive freeze over the state. First, the Misses: I looked at the Comp List at the end of the month to see what was seen that I had missed. I also added a few others that could have been seen. There is an * next to birds that Marshall found in 1999. *Brown Pelican - should have gotten before the freeze *Great Egret - same, my worst miss *Common Eider - only one report *Northern Goshawk - I didn't luck into one *Ruffed Grouse - a weekend in Garrett didn't produce *Willet - they were on the ORV zone in early Jan, but not late *Western or Least Sandpiper - I had peep sp. It was a bad weekend for shorebirds the first weekend of January. *Long-billed Dowitcher - seen mid-month in Worcester Laughing Gull - seen at Jug Bay early in the month, also on the Potomac Rufous Hummingbird - I didn't make my Big January public fast enough to see the one in Charles Loggerhead Shrike - one reported from Garrett *Orange-crowned Warbler - spent 3 hours at Schoolhouse Pond, and 2 more at Charlie Gant's feeder Nashville Warbler - should have chased at Cherry Hill mid-month, I didn't know it was there in early Jan Painted Bunting - saw this on the comp list, I guess the Talbot bird stuck around Pine Siskin - none around Evening Grosbeak - none around I would have benefited from a day trip to Worcester before I left for Florida. Great Egret, Brown Pelican, and another shorebird would have been almost guaranteed. Also, I kept the Big January low-key for a while and didn't actively pursue locations of birds right from the start. Several people provided wonderful help with locations of birds as well as companions on birding trips. Jim Stasz, Mark Hoffman, Zach Baer, Ed Boyd, George Jett, Dave Powell, Bob Ringler, Parke John and the Gant's, Sue Riccardi, Danny Bystrak, Kim Caughey (who put with me being gone for 2/3 of the month and drove with me an hour to see one bird), and Marshall Iliff. I have used Marshall's ranking system for the list. Code 1 birds were those that should not be missed by any Big January attempt (didn't miss any!!). Code 2 birds were missable, but should be present more often than not and easily found. Code 3 birds should be findable with great effort or are only rarely present (Thayer's Gull, Baltimore Oriole). Code 4 birds are rarities with only a few records for January (Harris's Sparrow, Clay-colored Sparrow). Code 3 and 4 birds are in all caps, and all codes 2,3, and 4 have places that I saw them listed. An * is placed next to species that Marshall missed in 1999. The List: Red-throated Loon (1) Common Loon (1) Pied-billed Grebe (1) Horned Grebe (1) *RED-NECKED GREBE (4) Kent Narrows and flyby at OC Inlet Northern Gannet (1) Great Cormorant (1) Double-crested Cormorant (1) American Bittern (2) Vaughn Central Great Blue Heron (1) SNOWY EGRET (3) Langmaid Rd in Worcester Tricolored Heron (2) Deal Island, Fairmount WMA, Skimmer Island Black-crowned Night-Heron (1) GLOSSY IBIS (4) Deal Island, small flock Tundra Swan (1) Mute Swan (1) Greater White-fronted Goose (2) Piscataway Park Snow Goose (1) Ross's Goose (1) Brant (1) Wood Duck (2) Vaughn Central Green-winged Teal (1) American Black Duck (1) Mallard (1) Northern Pintail (1) BLUE-WINGED TEAL (3) Showell Ponds in Worcester Northern Shoveler (1) Gadwall (1) EURASIAN WIGEON (3) Swan Harbor Farm and Assateague/Eagle's Nest CG American Wigeon (1) Canvasback (1) Redhead (1) Ring-necked Duck (1) Greater Scaup (1) Lesser Scaup (1) Harlequin Duck (2) OC Inlet and Assateague flybys Long-tailed Duck (1) Black Scoter (1) Surf Scoter (1) White-winged Scoter (1) Common Goldeneye (1) Bufflehead (1) Hooded Merganser (1) Common Merganser (1) Red-breasted Merganser (1) Ruddy Duck (1) Black Vulture (1) Turkey Vulture (1) Bald Eagle (1) Northern Harrier (1) Sharp-shinned Hawk (1) Cooper's Hawk (1) Red-shouldered Hawk (1) Red-tailed Hawk (1) *Rough-legged Hawk (2) Aaron Run Rd in Garrett and Elliot Island Golden Eagle (2) Blackwater American Kestrel (1) MERLIN (3) Showell in Worcester Peregrine Falcon (1) Ring-necked Pheasant (1) Wild Turkey (1) Northern Bobwhite (2) Evans Rd in Worcester and Clarks Ln in Caroline Clapper Rail (1) King Rail (1) Virginia Rail (1) American Coot (1) Black-bellied Plover (1) *PIPING PLOVER (4) incredible find at Eagle's Nest CG in late Jan Killdeer (1) American Oystercatcher (1) Greater Yellowlegs (1) Lesser Yellowlegs (2) Central Vaughn and Elliot island Ruddy Turnstone (1) *Red Knot (2) Skimmer Island Sanderling (1) peep sp. (2) flyby at Eagle's Nest CG, almost certainly a Western Purple Sandpiper (1) Dunlin (1) Common Snipe (1) American Woodcock (1) Bonaparte's Gull (1) Ring-billed Gull (1) Herring Gull (1) THAYER'S GULL (3) 1st year bird at Beulah Landfill Iceland Gull (2) 1st year birds at Brown Station LF, Beulah, and OC Inlet Lesser Black-backed Gull (1) Glaucous Gull (2) Assateague Great Black-backed Gull (1) Black-legged Kittiwake (3) OC Inlet, result of 2 hour seawatch Forster's Tern (2) OC Inlet and Assateague Rock Dove (1) Mourning Dove (1) Barn Owl (1) Eastern Screech-Owl (1) Great Horned Owl (1) Barred Owl (1) *LONG-EARED OWL (3) Garrett County Short-eared Owl (2) Deal Island Northern Saw-whet Owl (2) Assateague Island Belted Kingfisher (1) Red-headed Woodpecker (1) Red-bellied Woodpecker (1) Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (1) Downy Woodpecker (1) Hairy Woodpecker (1) Yellow-shafted Flicker (1) Pileated Woodpecker (1) Eastern Phoebe (2) Little Mill Rd in Worcester and Schoolhouse Pond Horned Lark (1) TREE SWALLOW (3) flock of 7 on Eagle's Nest Rd in late Jan *BLUE-HEADED VIREO (4) Hickory Pt found by Hoffman on CBC Blue Jay (1) American Crow (1) Fish Crow (1) Common Raven (1) Black-capped Chickadee (1) Carolina Chickadee (1) Tufted Titmouse (1) Red-breasted Nuthatch (1) VERY hard this year, 2 in Garrett, 1 in Allegany White-breasted Nuthatch (1) Brown-headed Nuthatch (1) Brown Creeper (1) Carolina Wren (1) House Wren (2) Evans Rd, Bayview Rd, Vaughn North all in Worcester Winter Wren (1) Sedge Wren (1) Marsh Wren (1) Golden-crowned Kinglet (1) Ruby-crowned Kinglet (1) Eastern Bluebird (1) Hermit Thrush (1) American Robin (1) Gray Catbird (1) Northern Mockingbird (1) Brown Thrasher (1) American Pipit (1) Cedar Waxwing (1) European Starling (1) Myrtle Warbler (1) Pine Warbler (2) Green Ridge in Allegany!! and Charlie Gant's feeder in Elk Neck *Palm Warbler (2) Newark in Worcester, 2 Westerns Common Yellowthroat (2) near Berlin Northern Cardinal (1) Eastern Towhee (1) American Tree Sparrow (1) Chipping Sparrow (1) CLAY-COLORED SPARROW (4) Evans Rd originally found by Stasz in late Dec Field Sparrow (1) VESPER SPARROW (2) Vaughn Central Savannah Sparrow (1) *LECONTE'S SPARROW (4) Vaughn Central, very lucky, couldn't find "old reliable" Nelson's Sharp-tailed Sparrow (2) Ferry Landing on Assateague, Acadian subspecies Saltmarsh Sharp-tailed Sparrow (2) Vaughn Central Seaside Sparrow (2) Fairmount WMA Fox Sparrow (1) Song Sparrow (1) LINCOLN'S SPARROW (3) Bayview Rd in Worcester Swamp Sparrow (1) White-throated Sparrow (1) *HARRIS'S SPARROW (4) Carroll County feeder from Mid-winter Count White-crowned Sparrow (1) Slate-colored Junco (1) also saw the Oregon Junco in Pocomoke City! Lapland Longspur (2) Oland Rd and Sparks Rd Snow Bunting (2) Sparks Rd Red-winged Blackbird (1) Eastern Meadowlark (1) Rusty Blackbird (2) Centreville, Hickory Pt, and Pocomoke City Boat-tailed Grackle (1) Common Grackle (1) Brown-headed Cowbird (1) BALTIMORE ORIOLE (3) Susquehanna State Park *Purple Finch (2) Schoolhouse Pond House Finch (1) American Goldfinch (1) House Sparrow (1) And that's it!! Let me know if there is any mistakes. Matt Hafner College Park, MD ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================