Date: Sat, 31 Jan 2004 22:31:00 EST Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Joel Martin Subject: Caroline County and a little of Dorchester, 1/31 - RL Hawk, BW Teal MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Some highlights from a half-day trip to Caroline County and Elliott Island. First I have to thank Glen and Shelly Lovelace for welcoming me to their home at 7:15 AM to see the Common Redpoll at their feeder. Not quite a Maryland bird (by a few hundred feet), but a life bird for me, thanks to the Lovelace's hospitality. Since Glen is almost in Dorchester County I decided to make a quick run to Elliott Island to try once again for Rough-legged Hawk. I seem to have a blind spot for this species, at least in Maryland, and this excursion was no exception. Not a lot of birds of any kind were moving with the marsh frozen solid and lightly covered with snow. Pokota Creek held the little open water to be found anywhere, so I was not surprised to flush about 10 Hooded Mergansers. I was surprised when a drake Blue-winged Teal erupted. I know that some of our heavy listers find this species in the dead of winter but I have never seen one in such harsh conditions. Also present were 2 Black-crowned Night-Herons, 2 Harriers and at least 4 Bald Eagles. From there I drove back through the field bird areas north of Ridgely in Caroline County. There were scattered groups of Horned Larks, but no lonspurs or Snow Buntings, or even any American Pipits along Mason Branch Road, where they were numerous this time last winter. On Cherry Lane opposite the state park campground was a mixed flock of a couple hundred blackbirds, mostly Redwings, but with a dozen or so Rusties and a few Common Grackles. I did not see any Brewer's Blackbirds. Juncos, White-throated and Savannah Sparrows were numerous along the road edges. But the best Maryland bird of the day came as I was approaching the traditional longspur spot on Sparks Road. A large buteo flew out of the trees beside the road, then circled back in front of me -- a beautiful juvenile light morph Rough-legged Hawk! It circled behind the little woods and landed in a line of trees, where I was able to get the scope on it while it flew from perch to perch and kited in the strong wind. These are such big, beautiful, unique raptors. So, not a big list today, but a life bird, two state birds and a couple of county birds. And the view of the frozen Chesapeake on the way home was spectacular. Joel Martin Catonsville, MD jcdlmartin@aol.com ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================