Date: Wed, 12 Mar 2003 22:10:06 -0500 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Stan Arnold Subject: Woodcock show at UMBC Comments: cc: Sue Probst , Bryan MacKay , Charles Kucera , Dave Brinker , Elliot Kirschbaum , Joel Martin , Karin Readel , Kevin Omland , Kim Lloyd , Marian Dodson , Paul Canner , Paul Kreiss , Paula Warner , Sandy Parker , Sue Ricciardi MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Hi Folks, This evening I met Charlie Kucera, Kevin Omland, and two students at UMBC at 6 p.m. to once again document woodcock activity. We were all treated to the best show any of us had ever seen; it was like attending a fireworks display. The first peent came at about 6:15 in the woods about 75 feet away from where we stood on the lip of the storm water management pond. It was still light enough to scan the area, and we located the bird foraging on the woodland floor. Kevin had a high powered light with him, which was enough to bring out the color of the bird, and its eye-shine. We watched it preen and probe for several minutes, as peents began to eminate from other parts of the woods. Soon the aerial flights began, and I estimate that during the next thirty minutes there were between 20 and 30 flight displays--a thrilling spectacle. When we departed the area at 6:45, the displays had ceased, but the peenting continued. We figured there were at least six males peenting and displaying, but likely more. The activity all took place in the southern part of the campus, in a protected area called the Conservation and Environmental Research Area (CERA). It is accessed from I-95 by exiting west onto I-195/Rte 166 toward Catonsville, then taking the first (and last) exit to UMBC. Parking along this road into campus is restricted to students/staff, but if you take your first right into the research park, you can park briefly along this entry road (not in the parking lot). All of the activity this evening took place in the open area on the south side of this research park entry road. I find it amazing that the CERA at UMBC, sitting on the edge of urban development and only constituting about 1% of the land area within the Relay NW atlas block, produces about 20 to 30 percent of the block's bird activity, and last year produced a disproportionately large share of the confirmed sightings within the block. I have no explanation. It's a wonderfully birdy area, and deserves perpetual preservation. Other birds seen on campus this evening, pre woodcock show, were four AMERICAN TREE SPARROWs in the vicinity of Pig Pen Pond. Stan Arnold Glen Burnie dy.dx@verizon.net ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================