Date: Mon, 8 Sep 2003 10:14:55 -0400 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: "Lovelace, Glen (DelDOT)" Subject: Oak Grove Area 9/5 and 9/6 Comments: To: DE-Birds MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Hello All, In my quest to find birds at Oak Grove, I had determined to bird each cold front thoroughly to find any and all migrants that I could. So Friday morning 9/5, I took an extended walk around my farm from 7-9 AM and finding 48 species. The highlight was a Northern Waterthrush (new to the homelist #172). Additional migrant warbler included an Ovenbird, a Black & White, Redstart, Yellowthroat and a YB Chat. A nice mixed flock was found in the cutoff (off of Kinder Rd) that included 3 Kingbirds, 3 Baltimore Orioles, 3 Towhees including a juvenile, WE Vireo, 2 Yellowthroats and a House Wren. The House Wren was the second addition to the year list. It was expected, but perhaps not quite this early in the fall. It made getting soaked from the waist down by wading through dripping wet small pines worthwhile. After 9 AM, the breeze came up and activity plummeted. The year list stands at 135, needing one more to tie my record. In the evening, I conducted a skywatch, hoping for a Nighthawk to fly by. No luck, but there was a substantial flight (several hundred, perhaps a thousand) of Robins to an apparent roost in the woods on my neighbor to the north. Also had an Osprey fly by. I repeated the effort on Saturday morning (9/6) because the cold front deepened by several degrees (morning low of 58 degrees), but I took the opposite strategy and birded all of the roads in the area before walking the farm. Well, I did not have to look far for a new bird. As soon as I walked out the door, I heard an odd squeak in the trees around the house. I tried to pass it off as some Starling gibberish, but the bird was determined to be identified as a Rose-Breasted Grosbeak. The record tieing bird, 3rd ever grosbeak and first since 2000. From there, I worked North Oak Grove Rd where the highlight was another Northern Waterthrush found near the Mason-Dixon marker just south of Kinder Rd. I was in DE, but the bird was in MD. Another nice flock in the middle of Kinder Rd included Balt. Oriole and Scarlet Tanager. Horseshoe Rd (DE) yielded Redstart and an immature Chestnut-sided Warbler (new for the year - # 137 - the record setting bird :) Moving back the farm, I found a Black-throated Green Warbler behind the pond (a pretty male - #138) that was on his own and not part of any flock. It seemed to be the day of the RE Vireo as they were in almost every group and I tallied 10 all together. In the evening, I checked out my parent's backyard which has a west facing woods that is well lit by the setting sun. It has always been a good place to find feeding flocks late in the day. There was small one present (Redstart, Pine, BG Gnat) and while watching it, a Nighthawk flies over. Icing on the cake. Sunday was a work day, but I did have a Merlin pass through (both states). Good Birding, Glen Lovelace III Seaford, DE ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================