Date: Thu, 24 Apr 2003 14:07:50 -0400 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Fred Pierce Subject: Point Lookout MIME-version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1 Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Highlight of my mid-week camping trip to Point Lookout was a Harlequin Duck preening in the sun yesterday, escorted by a mixture of Horned Grebes & Buffleheads. A Merlin zoomed by while I was admiring the Harlequin. Also a Surf Scoter in very close - enought to check eye and foot color, feather count (well, almost) etc. Much better than the usual spec on the horizon view. Still lots of loons (heard one call briefly this morning). Quite a few Gannets also. A pair of large birds making their way north over the bay resembled Harriers more than anything else I can think of, but in such a context I'm not sure. A lot of wing-beating, then they would drop down and I could see their backs. Pronouncedly russet, with a white rump (or white something - they were a bit distant). Tail and wing configuration was Harrier-like. A serene early morning yesterday became dramatic when about 30 G.B. Herons suddenly burst out of their roost across from the campgrounds. I didn't see what set them off, but noticed an immature Bald Eagle among them. The Eagle would approach a heron very close, from various angles. Didn't appear to be diving at them but reminded me of practicing intercepts. The herons attempted to settle back in 3 or 4 times but would end up milling about in the air again, until finally the eagle wandered off and peace was restored. Lots of BH Nuthatches, Gnatcatchers, Yellowthroats, Bluebirds and singing Parulas. Almost took out a Turkey (the feathered type) on the way back this morning. On 301 around Bowie. One of those strange, prolonged vignettes that happend in seconds but seem much longer. Bird pacing agitatedly back and forth on the shoulder - "I'll just never get across the road with all this traffic." Me thinking - "huh? that's a Turkey, about to run out in front of me." Step on brake "oh no, he's gonna do it!" Bird takes a couple of steps toward doom and then does a JATO leap into the air, rising in an 80 degree climb giving me a great look at its undercarriage. Never would have believed a bird that bulky could perform like that. Ben Franklin may have been right. Good thing he could though or I'd have been having Thanksgiving dinner. fdp -------------------------------------------------------------------- Fred Pierce (DNRC)- fpierce@avialantic.com Mid-Atlantic Aviation on the Web - http://www.avialantic.com ** Mid Atlantic Air Museum WWII Weekend Airshow June 6-8 2003 - www.maam.org/maamwwii.html ** *** World Airshow News - www.worldairshownews.com ** --------------------------------------------------------------------- ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================