Date: Fri, 7 Nov 2003 21:10:29 -0500 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: "George M. Jett" Subject: Charles County Birds Today Comments: To: SMAS Comments: cc: Miliff@aol.com, Robert Ringler MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Folks The day started gloriously. (I did not have to work today - a good way = to start.) Shortly before dawn I began to hear Tundra Swans over head. = By 7:45 AM I had counted over 400 birds flying south. One small group = of about twenty circled the house giving a nice show. One smaller, = faster flying, lower flying duck - Bufflehead/Common Merganser type - = was seen briefly, but not well enough to i.d. to species. Bummer! The = day also offered six woodpecker species. The only missing mid-Atlantic = woodpecker was Red-headed. The Magnolia (grandiflora) has produced a = nice collection of red fruit. Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, Hairy, and = Pileated seemed to love this food item. Two Bald Eagles passed over = before I left for Richmond to pick up Gwen's mom. One adult, and one = second year bird was the tally. Shortly after the Bald Eagles, four = Great Blue Herons flew over in tandem, also heading south. A few Myrtle = Warblers are still coming through as well.=20 A few Chipping Sparrows are hanging around. White-throated Sparrow and = Junco numbers are climbing. Birds are starting to come back into the = feeder areas. White-breasted Nuthatch, Carolina Chickadee, and two = Tufted Titmice were around. A couple of Hermit Thrush are feeding with = the Northern Cardinal and Juncos in the Black Gum. A few Bluebirds = called flying over head and today's American Robin count was about 50 = birds before 9 AM. The eight point buck was not seen today but I was = away most of the day, and the Cottontail was seen morning and evening. =20 Heading south I stopped a couple places looking for migrating scoters. = No scoters to report, but at Pope's Creek a small flock (maybe 10) of = Ruddy Ducks, Scaup sp. (too far out but about 20 birds), and about two = dozen Bufflehead. Forster's Tern, Laughing and Herring Gulls were also = present. A flock of about 200 Double-crested Cormorants took off to the = south while I was scanning. The marsh opposite the crab house offered = Ruby-crowned Kinglet (in your face), Song and Swamp Sparrow.=20 My next stop was on the Virginia side of the Harry Nice Bridge. There I = counted about 300 Ruddy Duck much closer to the shore but in Maryland. = Any bird in the River is a Maryland bird. =20 Arriving home, I did some pre-retirement work. The only bird of note = was a Cooper's Hawk about 4:30 heading south. A few late house bird reports. Tuesday (November 4) night three Barred = Owls were singing up a storm about 2:30 AM, and on October 24 a single = Caspian Tern called several times heading north, and a single Eastern = Towhee called in the afternoon. I will look for Cave Swallow in the morning near Cobb Island. Good luck = to anyone looking for Cave Swallow. Regards George =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D