Date: Tue, 15 Apr 2003 12:02:33 -0400 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Bonnie Ott Subject: Ho Co (Vesper sparrow) MIME-version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=Windows-1252 Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT I can relax at last after finding my first spring VESPER SPARROW this morning as we plodded up and down dirt roads in my atlas area. The bird did its typical behavior of flushing from close range and flying in an undulating pattern to a perch high in a mature tree. The white outer tail feathers were very obvious in flight and even from a great distance the "cheek hook" was outstanding. There were some other non-sparrow goodies. 2 WILD TURKEYS were a delight and county bird for some of us. 2 LESSER YELLOWLEGS conveniently called as the circled overhead. HORNED LARKS carrying food and 50 AMERICAN PIPITS scattered over the fields. A COMMON YELLOWTHROAT was staking out his territory. A WHITE-EYED VIREO was one of my earliest. 2 CASPIAN TERNS and GREEN WING TEAL flying overhead. 57 species in all for a beautiful day. Bonnie Ott Howard County Field Trip Chair Ellicott City, MD bonnie1163@comcast.net ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================