Date: Sat, 5 Jul 2003 10:47:09 -0400 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: "George M. Jett" Subject: Re: Atlasing in Calvert MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Sue Waterthrushes generally are silent after they set up nest. This makes it harder to find them on a big day in mid May. They are one of the earliest to arrive in the spring, and set up on territory by mid to late April. No sense in attracting predators to the nest or young. George ----- Original Message ----- From: "Sue Hamilton" To: Sent: Saturday, July 05, 2003 9:47 AM Subject: [MDOSPREY] Atlasing in Calvert > 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 > ======================================================================= > ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================