Date: Thu, 22 May 2003 21:04:05 -0400 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Stan Arnold Subject: : ... UMBC (directions) MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Erik, The Wood Ducks are at the primary Storm Water Management Pond, to the left front (southeast) of the Research Park building. If you are coming off of I-195, and it's after 3 p.m., you can park along this main entrance to campus (UMBC Drive), and then walk into the research park. If you are coming before 3 p.m, the campus police will ticket cars parked here without a UMBC sticker, and it is better to pull in to the research park, and (briefly) park along the curb here (but not in the parking lot!). As you drive into the research park, the PRIMARY Storm Water Pond will be to your right front. You may want to park just past the entrance to the parking lot, then walk toward the southeast. The pond sits in a "bowl" surrounded on three sides by woods. A path will take you to it, though with all the vegetation growth, the path is somewhat obscure in places. It's a fairly mucky walk to the pond these days. This little pond seems to be a hub of activity, and it is where the pair of Wood Ducks has been hanging out for the past week, with two ducklings. If they get spooked, the male will fly off, and the female will try to hide with the ducklings in the (as yet) small amount of pond vegetation. There are now three nest boxes around the pond, two of them with Tree Swallow nests, and the third just installed last night. Phoebe, E. Kingbird, Baltimore Oriole and Green Heron are frequent visitors to the pond, and about two weeks ago an American Bittern was there. During the course of the summer, you might see Great Blue Heron, Mallard, and even Black-crowned Night Heron there. Red-winged Blackbirds are plentiful, and there are three species of nesting warblers in the area: Yellow, American Redstart, and Common Yellowthroat. In the nearby woods, are several small nest boxes, all occupied by House Wrens. Towhees and Wood Thrush abound, and all the common flycatcher and woodpecker species are there. A pair of Barred Owls is also frequently seen or heard. If you take the research park road to the loop at the end, you will be very near the other storm water pond, which retains little water, but during this wet season has had Solitary and Spotted Sandpipers. The Brown Thrasher likes to hang out here. Hope this helps. Good luck with your birding! Stan Arnold Glen Burnie dy.dx@verizon.net ----- Original Message ----- From: "Erik Underwood SR." To: Sent: Thursday, May 22, 2003 4:58 PM Subject: Re: [MDOSPREY] : YC Night Heron at UMBC > Sorry to bother you. I just had a question. I was there today and went to > the pond just off loop road near the stadium. I did not get to see the Wood > Ducks. Are they on the pond or somewhere else I did not see them? Please tell > me where you saw them as I am dying to see a Wood Duck. > Thanks a bunch > > I did get two lifers today a Baltimore Oriole and a Yellow Warbler > > Erik Underwood > Hampstead, MD > birdnerd30@aol.com > > ======================================================================= > To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com > with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey > ======================================================================= > ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================