Date: Sun, 22 Feb 2004 08:51:59 -0500 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Stan Arnold Subject: Halethorpe Pond, 2/22 (woodcock evidence) MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Hi again Folks, I did a short sunrise jaunt around the Halethorpe Pond this morning with Brian Sykes. Springtime was quite evident, as we saw our first pair of Wood Ducks, a pair of Red-tailed Hawks, a pair of Flickers, and very vocal Red-shouldered Hawks, Pileated Woodpeckers, and Red-winged Blackbirds. The pond(s) are now totally thawed, and besides the Wood Ducks were two drake Green-winged Teal, a score or so of Gadwall, a handful of Hooded Mergs, and the usual Canada Geese and Mallards. The geese have begun pairing off and selecting their nest sites around the water. An adult Bald Eagle was at its usual early morning perch. Of greater interest to me was an area back along the Patapsco River where Sykes has flushed woodcocks on several occasions. There were several patches of silty sand left over from the many recent floods, and I noticed many pencil-sized holes in them. I had remembered Jay Shepard telling me to watch for woodcock probe holes in lowland areas during recent Christmas counts. I wasn't sure if that was what I was observing today, until Sykes pointed out a series of little footprints leading up to several of the holes. Definitely woodcock probe holes, and lots of them--perhaps 75 to 100 all in a small area. Bill Hubick and I were out here along the powerlines Thursday evening looking for displaying woodcocks, but none was to be seen. I am expecting them to begin their displays any day now. Stan Arnold Glen Burnie dy.dx@earthlink.net ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================