Date: Sat, 12 Apr 2003 20:27:34 +0000 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Don Burggraf Subject: Sedge Wren Safari and Two Sparrow Questions Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed Hi all. Armed with scope, binoculars, and a tape recorder, I set out to Irish Grove to bag the mighty Sedge Wren for my life list. I was taking a little extra time for a side trip around a meeting at Ocean City. (NB ? A sharp, monstrous, cutting wind cut my birding time in Ocean City, a juvenile GREAT CORMORANT being the only notable find at the Inlet among the less-than-usual suspects.) I spent the night at Irish Grove and walked out to Rail Trail as the sun rose. I was out early enough to hear a retiring GREAT HORNED OWL and an awakening WILD TURKEY. I walked back and forth along Rail Trail accompanied by several singing VIRGINIA RAILS, and then Luck smiled. I got two glimpses of SEDGE WRENS (I?m reasonably sure they were different birds) who were singing just like the tape had sounded! Yea! I also heard a singing OVENBIRD in the woods. (I think it?s the earliest I?ve heard one singing.) PINE WARBLERS and COMMON YELLOWTHROATS were singing as well. My time along Rail Trail (and Rumbley Point Road) gave rise to two sparrow questions. First, I heard a song which I can reasonably narrow down to the two Sharp-tailed Sparrows. I don?t have enough confidence in separating those calls from each other. However, the Yellow Book seems to indicate that in the Spring, the likelihood of Salt-marsh would be greatly stronger. Does anyone out there know whether the indication in the Yellow Book accurately shows the population strength, or rather reflects a lack of data about this recently-split pair of species? Second, I heard another call, as boring as it was dull as it was regular. See-lick? See-lick. I puzzled over the call until I remembered the description of Henslow?s Sparrow. I have seen Henslow?s Sparrows before, but never heard one. I noticed on a species list in the house at Irish Grove, Henslow?s Sparrow has been reported in the area. When I returned home, I quickly found my Stokes? CDs of bird songs, and found Henslow?s Sparrow. My first reaction was, ?That could have been the bird I heard.? However, it seemed that the habitat was wrong. This call came from a marsh. Not only do Henslow?s Sparrow more typically inhabit weedy fields, they spend most of their time on the ground. In Kauffman?s Lives of North American Birds, he mentions that Henslow?s Sparrows can show up in non-typical habitats in migration. But even he didn?t say anything about a marsh. Does anyone out there who knows more about Henslow?s Sparrows than I do have anything to say about whether one could ever be found in a marsh? One last comment: When I went down Rumbley Point Road (seeing DUNLINS, a WILLET, BOTH YELLOWLEGS, SNOWY EGRETS, MEADOWLARKS, etc.) I had to be cautious because the water was so high, covering the road at points. I felt I had to continue on down the road because there was not room enough to turn around. Eventually, however, I had to stop: the road was completely inundated ahead. I had to back out until I found a place where a cautious seven-point-turn was possible to let me drive out going forward. I saw several birds on the way out, but left them unidentified because it appeared as if the water was rising. Thankfully, I lived to tell about it. Have an exciting time birding! Don Burggraf Baltimore dburggraf@hotmail.com _________________________________________________________________ MSN 8 helps eliminate e-mail viruses. Get 2 months FREE*. http://join.msn.com/?page=features/virus ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================