Date: Mon, 16 Jun 2003 03:20:04 -0400 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Stan Arnold Subject: Atlasing Garrett Co. MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Hi Folks, Late last summer I took on an atlas block in Garrett Co., figuring it would be a productive way for me to see some of the birds I enjoy so much in W. Maryland. It has been far from disappointing. This weekend I spent about 20 hours making multiple circuits through two different blocks, finding many of the same birds I go to see every year, but in places I'd never seen them before. Highlights for the atlas included HENSLOW'S SPARROW, SHARP-SHINNED HAWK, BROAD-WINGED HAWK, RUFFED GROUSE, RED-BELLIED WOODPECKER, LEAST FLYCATCHER, BLUE-HEADED VIREO, COMMON RAVEN, CLIFF SWALLOW, GOLDEN-CROWNED KINGLET, VEERY, HERMIT THRUSH, GOLDEN-WINGED WARBLER, CHESTNUT-SIDED WARBLER, MAGNOLIA WARBLER, CERULEAN WARBLER, SAVANNAH SPARROW, DARK-EYED JUNCO, ROSE-BREASTED GROSBEAK, and BOBOLINK. The Henslow's Sparrow was found in the Avilton SE block, and the remaining birds were all tallied in the Barton NE block (or in both blocks). The best find was the HENSLOW'S SPARROW, which was heard clearly on Pea Ridge Rd., about 1/4 mile south of where Avilton Rd. makes an elbow bend to the east, and Pea Ridge continues straight south (this is about 4 miles south of I-68, exit 24). At 5:35 this morning (Sun., 15 June) as I was driving this road in the fog, I heard a loud and distinct "Tck-slick" which compelled me to put on the brakes, then back up. I did not see the songster in the gloomy conditions, but it vocalized loudly and continuously in the vicinity of power pole #87. I won't be back in Garrett for two more weeks, so someone in the area might want to see if it's staying put after a few days, and possibly get a "T" code on it. Saturday, 14 June, was my big day, as I atlased almost non-stop from 4:30 a.m. (dipping on whip-poor-wills) to nearly 9 p.m. During early daylight, I hiked the forest road that goes back from the Georges Creek Brethren Church, off of Avilton-Lonaconing Rd., just south of the Swamp Rd. intersection. This is where the bulk of the warblers were, and during the 90-minute hike I had great looks at GOLDEN-WINGED WARBLER, as well as hearing N. PARULA, CHESTNUT-SIDED, REDSTART, BLACK-THROATED GREEN, WORM-EATER, OVENBIRD, YELLOWTHROAT, and HOODED. About 1/3 mile north of Swamp Rd. on Avilton-Lonaconing Rd. is another forest road that goes to the northeast. I hiked a couple miles on this road. Though bird density was low, the hike offered the weekend's only HERMIT THRUSH (singing), PILEATED WOODPECKER, and RED-BELLIED WOODPECKER (a pair), the last of which is a good find in these parts. This is also where I had a calling BARRED OWL two weeks earlier. After leaving this trail, I continued north on Avilton-Lonaconing Rd. just a short distance, when I spotted a RUFFED GROUSE hen along the road. This has particular significance in June, so I stopped along the road, and watched, and it was only a matter of seconds before I heard little peeps, and within a minute I had spotted five very young chicks, all now scrambling up the embankment, heeding the calls of an increasingly frantic mother. I left shortly. Another forest road, leading west from Avilton-Lonaconing Rd. in the vicinity of the Little Savage River (which goes under the road in a culvert--i.e., no bridge) took me to the only thick pine stand I found during the weekend. It is along this path that I found MAGNOLIA WARBLER, CERULEAN WARBLER, GOLDEN-CROWNED KINGLET, and DARK-EYED JUNCO, while listening to COMMON RAVENs croak overhead. I visited the southern half of Pea Ridge Rd. all three days-- Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. A pair of male ROSE-BREASTED GROSBEAKS vocally delineated their territories in a little wooded section along the road. By far, the most abundant bird along this section of road was BOBOLINK, with a mile stretch where they dominated the scene. With so many around, confirmation was easy, and I found a male carrying a bunch of nesting material, and a female taking a big bug to the nestsite. The second most abundant bird there was GRASSHOPPER SPARROW, and it is probably one of their nests that Henry Stafford found in his front yard, after weed-wacking along the edge of the road. I've never gotten such good looks at this bird before, nor seen the brilliant yellow lores and clear, clean head stripe of what I assume are breeding males. The Stafford house is the last inhabited house on the road, traveling south, and has a number of bird boxes with active E. BLUEBIRD and TREE SWALLOW nests, and feeders that attract sometimes dozens of RUBY-THROATED HUMMINGBIRDs. I watched one humingbird do its "lazy 8" courtship pattern. I spent some time across the road scanning the nearest trees for hummer nests, but could not find any (yet!). Instead, I caught a CHIPPING SPARROW feeding a caterpiller to it's noisy youngster. At the end of Pea Ridge Rd. is a barn and several other buildings on private property. Here several BARN and CLIFF SWALLOWs fly about, and it is here two weeks ago that about ten nests under the eaves of one of the buildings had Cliff Swallows in them. Little Brown Lake sits on the edge of the two mentioned atlas blocks, and it is here that I added SHARP-SHINNED HAWK and ROUGH-WINGED SWALLOW to the tally for both blocks. A GOLDEN-WINGED WARBLER sang at the beginning of the entrance road. Several birds were confirmed during the weekend. Besides the few mentioned above were DOWNY WOODPECKER, E. PHOEBE, WHITE-BREASTED NUTHATCH, ROBIN, OVENBIRD, FIELD SPARROW, and SAVANNAH SPARROW. Like all my trips to Garrett, it was marvelous. Plenty of rain, but that did not deter me in the least. Stan Arnold Glen Burnie dy.dx@verizon.net ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================