Date: Sun, 23 Mar 2003 15:32:21 -0500 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Richard McGuinness Subject: Re: Saturday, Hyattsville, PG County Hi, I looked up Magruder Park in my ADC map and couldn't find it. Where is it? Thanks, Richard McG > ** Original Subject: [MDOSPREY] Saturday, Hyattsville, PG County > ** Original Sender: Beth Kantrowitz > ** Original Date: 23 Mar 2003 14:27:49 -0500 > ** Original Message follows... > > For the first time this year I ventured into Magruder Park and the local > stretch of the Northwest Branch of the Anacostia that I consider my > backyard. Two turkey vultures circled as I entered the first part of > the trail, the circular boardwalk around a very low swampy area. As > usual, cardinals were very loudly singing and calling to each other > through the trees, and I heard a few grackles gracking overhead. My > first great finds weren't birds... rustling in the dead leaves led me to > an 8-inch long reddish brown crayfish walking slowly through the mud and > emerging skunk cabbage, and a suspicious muddy gray rock turned out to > be a foot-long female snapping turtle. All I managed to spish out of > the dense woody undergrowth was a female house sparrow, but I did spot a > white-throated sparrow before completing the circular path. > > On to the higher and somewhat drier path through the woods leading to > the Northwest Branch trail, where I expected woodpeckers and wasn't > disappointed. At least one pair of red-bellies busily feeding and > calling but not drumming or excavating, a pair of downies, and one > yellow-bellied sapsucker, plus a flicker I kept hearing but never caught > sight of. Red-winged blackbirds down by the stream, a singing Carolina > wren, and a few tufted titmice, mourning doves, and a white-breasted > nuthatch in the treetops. Through the trees, out on the football/soccer > field, I could see a large flock of starlings and cowbirds. Then, > suddenly, the robins invaded! I hadn't seen a big flock since the last > snowstorm, and I've been seeing solitary males on people's front lawns, > but there were at least a hundred of them filling the bare tree branches > and flipping through the dead leaves on the trail for worms. Only one > male was up on a branch singing half-heartedly. All I could see or hear > now was the robins so I moved out onto the open paved trail. > > One ring-billed gull stood in the middle of the Northwest Branch where > it passes under Route 1 heading towards Bladensburg. The usual pair of > mallards sailed past and a small group of cedar waxwings passed > overhead. I was scanning the edge of the woods when I saw a big white > bird on a branch and wondered what a gull was doing in the trees. Then > it raised it's head and I got my prize of the day, a single > black-crowned night heron. I've seen them on rare occasions in flight > over the park, even recording one as a write-in one February for the > Great Backyared Bird Count, and I know an area further downstream where > I've seen a few roosting in recent years, but this was the first time > I'd encountered one just standing in a tree. The bird was very calm and > kept his beautiful red eye on me but wasn't disturbed by the bikers and > kids on rattling roller skates that passed on the asphalt path, and I > was able to get pretty close before reluctantly moving on across Route > 1. > > It was getting late, and the area isn't the safest place to be walking > around alone, but I wanted to check a favorite spot with lots of snags > and natural cavities. First I noted the Canada geese in the grassy > flat area by the stream and a single merlin (I think) , some crows, and > three tree swallows high overhead. Lots of red-winged blackbirds here, > too. My spishing got me a very ticked off Carolina wren which looked > like it was carrying nesting materials before it dropped them to give me > a good scolding. I also got the attention of a passing cyclist who I > may have turned into the newest member of PG Audubon after a > conversation about birds, migration, and human impacts on bird > populations punctuated by the perfectly-timed appearance of a beautiful > male bluebird, soon joined by a female and two others that looked like > males. > > Sorry to bore you with my Saturday afternoon suburban trek, > disappointingly migrant-free, but the black-crowned night heron made up > for any disappointment. Even though the trees were so bare I could see > my apartment building from the swampy part of the trail, the singing > cardinals, wren, and robin proved that spring is indeed approaching, > however slowly. > > > -Beth Kantrowitz > Hyattsville, MD > bkantrowitz@olg.com > > > P.S. Rob, if you're reading this, I'm going to keep my own Atlas > scorecard this year rather than passing on my neighborhood observations > to you one at a time. Keep me in mind if you want company atlasing > anywhere around here or DC :) > > ======================================================================= > To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com > with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey > ======================================================================= >** --------- End Original Message ----------- ** > Richard McGuinness Greenbelt, MD torich1@mindspring.com ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================