Date: Mon, 1 Mar 2004 17:01:33 -0500 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Kurt Schwarz Subject: Migrant Waterfowl, HowCo Dropped by Howard County's Centennial Lake for a dose of spring waterfowl, and enjoyed a productive visit. Snow Goose - 1 Canada Goose - 1,000+ small race Canada - 1 (notes below) Lesser Scaup - 4 (all male) Ring-Necked Duck - 15 Common Goldeneye - 2 (female) Ruddy Duck - 3 (didn't pay attention to gender) Hooded Merganser - 5 (3 male) Coot - 2 But the best part was two singing Easter Towhees! One was on an island, another on the south shore, an apparent territorial tussle. Snow Goose and small race were in the wildlife area. Scaup were towards the dam. Ruddies were near the boat ramp. Goldeneyes were moving around, but mostly to the left of the concession area. There were possibly two small race Canadas. I noticed one to the right of the boat ramp, appeared about 2/3 size of nearby Canadas. I took this for Sherrie's bird from last week, and frankly, didn't pay much attention. But I did notice in the wildlife area another bird, again roughly 2/3 size of the others, with a stubbier bill, very flat crown, and much steeper forehead than the other Canadas. The breast appeared browner. The forehead looked like the illustration of the Richardson's variety in Sibley. In any case, relooking a Sherrie's photo, this was not the same bird. The forehead and bill juncture were completely different. Kurt Schwarz HowCo goawaybird@comcast.net ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================