Date: Sat, 7 Feb 2004 21:55:59 -0500 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: "George M. Jett" Subject: Putaxent Waterbird Survey Birds Today Comments: To: SMAS Comments: cc: Miliff@aol.com, BlkVulture@aol.com, Chris Swarth MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Folks Gwen and I participated in the Patuxent River Water Bird Census today = and had some nice birds. The highlights were two dark morph Snow Geese = (Blue Goose - #108 for the year in Charles), and two small race Canada = Geese. Both were at Teague Point in Charles County. These animals were = mixed in with a flock of 3000+ Canada Geese that seem to have roosted = there. The birds began to leave for the days feeding shortly after we = got there at about 8 AM. The flock may be seen from the Rt. 231 bridge that crosses from Charles = Co. to Calvert Co. Teague Point is the spit of land that jets out from = the marsh to the north of the bridge. Jim Stasz recently advised that = he expects the small races of Canada Geese to be split into separate = species. Maybe one in the bank. =20 The Snow Geese were very lovely, and stood out quite nicely in the = larger, darker Canada's near the Charles County shoreline about 100 = yards in front of us. These birds briefly reminded me of the Emperor = Goose I had photographed on Attu but that dream quickly passed. They = briefly bathed in the frigid water and moved out with the morning = departure of most of the Canada Geese. =20 Shortly after the Snow Geese left, I noticed that one of the Canada = Geese, near where I had found the Snow Geese, had a very short, stubby, = triangular bill. The bill of the Canada's near the bird was long and = sloping. I got Gwen on the bird and advised her to compare the bill = shape, which was the easiest feature to observe, considering the light = and distance (about 100 yards). We viewed the birds in my Leica scope. = She found a second bird next to the first. The small race Canadas also = did not have the light breast area near where the dark neck joins the = breast feathers. The breast banding ran up flush to the short, dark = neck. I could not assess size very well since the birds started to move = out, walking toward the water away from us. I plan to return as soon = as I can and try to get photos. We were too far to get any decent = shots, and doing the waterbird survey, and needed to get to four more = point counts before 10:30 AM. While in Calvert County, Gwen picked up on an adult Peregrine Falcon = hunting along the shoreline at Sandy Point. Other raptors found during = the survey were Sharp-shinned, Cooper's (2), Red-shouldered Hawk, = American Kestrel, Northern Harrier (male), and Bald Eagle. One Great = Blue Heron and 20 Double-crested Cormorants were found. Lots of Canvasbacks were at the Benedict Bridge, but were so tightly = packed we could not re-find the two Redheads found on Saturday, January = 31. Other waterfowl were Mute and Tundra Swan, both Scaup species, = Common Goldeneye, Mallards, Black Ducks, Ruddy Ducks, and Bufflehead. A = pretty good morning of birding. Cheers. 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