Date: Sat, 5 Jul 2003 06:47:07 -0700 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Sue Hamilton Subject: Atlasing in Calvert MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Yesterday (7/4/3)I spent 2 early morning hours walking the Eastern portion of the American Chestnut Land Trust in Calvert County. I heard 24 species and saw only 6. The trail follows a stream through the lowlands, where many pawpaw trees can be seen. The trail is littered with last year's gumballs and a few tiny new ones. The mayapple leaves are dropping off, leaving a fat green fruit. Maybe this year I'll get a ripe one before the possums do. Ovenbirds, and hooded warblers sang from the hillsides, while tanagers sang in the canopy. Lizardtail and jewelweed were coming in to bloom in the swamp, and wineberries should be ripe tomorrow. I heard a counterpoint between a parula on the low side of the trail and a worm-eating warbler on the uphill side. At that point an insistent chip note brought my attention to another worm-eating, popping around the branches of a spice bush. As I watched it, a wood thrush passed by, carrying something in its beak? Aha. I hung about listening to one worm-eating warbler, and watching the agitated mate, but they did not 'prove' anything I could add to my list, so I moved on and left them alone. I continued up the hill to the powerline, where the small pines are becoming tall and tangled with vines. A chat provided background noise while a close up white-eyed vireo tantalized me. Somewhere in the distance a kingbird was calling, and nearby a towhee sang an abbreviated song, but nothing moved. The hour was growing late, and I still had house-cleaning to do before company arrived, so I started back. On the way back, I watched a noisy red-eyed vireo, and learned that it IS possible to whine with food in your mouth... It was a nice walk, and I did pick up 2 confirmeds, but that was all. Am I doing something wrong?? (I get an average of one new confirm with each outing to one of my 6 blocks.) Sue Hamilton PS Is this a bad year for waterthrushes or are they silent right now? __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? SBC Yahoo! DSL - Now only $29.95 per month! http://sbc.yahoo.com ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================