Date: Mon, 2 Feb 2004 19:12:31 -0500 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Walter Ellison Subject: Kent County "Larkspur" trip - Longspurs. etc. MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Hi All, On the Kent County Bird Club's "Larkpsur" (i.e. lark and longspur) = outing on Sunday (1 February) we did manage to find a couple of 'spurs = among the larks. We met our one participant - Mark Schilling from Kent = Island - at the Dollar Store across from Spring St. in Chestertown at = 7:00 AM. As we waited for further participants we saw the only grackle = (oddly enough), kingfisher, and waxwing of the trip. We took a short = detour to see what was at the wastewater treatment plant off John Hanson = Rd. Mostly ice it turned out - but there were a modest 28 Ring-necked = Ducks there. On the way back out via Airy Hill Rd we saw our only = meadowlark of the day.=20 We then headed east on MD-291 to Millington and started birding on = MD-313 just north of town at the Quail Run Nursery. The nursery's = plantings and some waste corn on the road shoulder north to Walnut Tree = Rd has made the area very attractive to sparrows and larks. We had 7 = species of sparrows along the road including 27 White-crowns (sadly also = one roadkill), 2 TREE SPARROWS, and 6 Savannahs. Best of all among our = "sparrows" were male and female LAPLAND LONGSPURS accompanying 40 larks = on a stretch of 313 with a small corn field on the west side of the = road. We also had good looks at over 1000 Snow Geese (alas no Ross's) = and 2 drake pintail in the ponds near Speer Rd. We went out Walnut Tree Rd as far as the Cypress Branch bridge, our best = birds were on the stream crossing east of the railroad bed where we = flushed 20 black ducks, and 24 Wood Ducks. Around Massey on MD-299 we found over 100 Horned Larks, 7 Red-tailed = Hawks, 4 Bald Eagles (feasting on goose carcasses), another TREE SPARROW = (at a feeder on Golts Rd), 22 Black Vultures, and an out-of-context = adult Great Black-backed Gull passing high overhead. At the Swantown = Creek crossing on Quinn Rd we had 2 Hermit Thrushes, a sapsucker, a Fox = Sparrow, and 2 Gadwall. We headed back to Chestertown via MD-213 from Galena. We made a quick = stop to check Woodland Creek across from Daves Hill Rd and found 5 = towhees, 2 Swamp Sparrows, another Fox Sparrow, 8 black ducks, and a = female Common Merganser. We wrapped up our birding along 213 west of Van = Sant Corner Rd where we stopped to look for pipits. We found two pipits, = down from the 8 we scouted there on Saturday, but all of the 30 bird = bodies along the road were cardinals or white-throats. We hope the 6 = other pipits were in the nearby fields. We garnered a grand total of 51 species for the morning. Not bad for the = "dead" of winter. Good Birding, Walter Ellison 23460 Clarissa Road Chestertown, MD 21620 phone: 410-778-9568 e-mail: rossgull@crosslink.net "A person who is looking for something doesn't travel very fast" - E. B. = White (in "Stuart Little") =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 =========================================================================