Date: Wed, 30 Apr 2003 12:57:23 -0400 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Elise Kreiss Subject: Baltimore Backyard MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit A single Chipping Sparrow at my feeder merits pleased notice. Several days ago I counted twelve! They have tapered off since then; and none this morning. Five Blue Jays showed up, however. We don't usually get any; although it was about this time last year we had maybe 35 - 50 set down in the trees and around the feeders. Last weekend we had both a male and female Towhee churning up the dirt alongside the White- throated Sparrows. A House Wren started singing last week, and seems to be settling in. I caught a glimpse of it once at the back porch wren box. This morning - - our first Hummingbird. Also seen on the hummingbird feeder - our male Nuthatch! The ants, you suppose? Two Pileated Woodpeckers have been seen frequently in the neighborhood. Recently, leaving for work, I heard a call from a neighboring yard and wondered - Flicker or Pileated? In the moments following, I was startled by a maniacal, rising, ear-splitting call above my head. THAT was a Pileated! On Sunday, my neighborhood held its annual Trails Festival to celebrate the Windsor Hills Conservation trail that joins with Gwynns Falls/Leakin park and is our own little bit of the greenway that is supposed to connect all the way down to the Baltimore Harbor. (We'll see!) It was hardly a birding event, but I did catch a look at a Parula and Prairie Warbler while showing the neighbors down to the water. You know, folks have lived in the city for years within walking distance of one of the largest urban wilderness parks in the country - - and never set foot in the woods! Sunday, a few of them did. Elise Kreiss Windsor Hills Baltimore, MD 21216 ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================