Date: Wed, 3 Mar 2004 20:48:15 -0500 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Stan Arnold Subject: SW Area Park, Balt. Co. (woodcocks) Comments: cc: Charles Kucera , sschwemmer@rtpumps.com, Paul Canner , "Elaine T. Bullock" , Paula Warner MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Hi Folks, For those living in the south Baltimore area who have not had a chance to get out and find woodcocks, Southwest Area Park in Baltimore Highlands would be a good place to visit. I was a bit skeptical as to the appropriateness of the habitat, being scant on trees and woodland, and heavy on fields of phragmites. But Charlie Kucera and I were more than pleasantly surprised this evening by the woodcock activity. To say that the place was crawling with these birds is little exageration. We heard our first peent at 6:18, and the last at 6:42, and in that 24 minute period we heard continuous peents, and probably encountered 20 birds; this number, however, was limited simply by the amount of ground we could cover during the narrow window. We saw only one good flight display, and I viewed the entire 15 or 20 second episode in the binoculars, from ascent to some rediculous altitude to the tumbling toward the earth. We also saw about half a dozen short "point A to point B" flights, and heard an additional eight or ten displays or short flights. One woodcock landed on the ground about 25 feet from us, and I was able to get a flashlight on it briefly before it bolted. It's hard to say where in the park would be the best vantage point, but we spent most of the time along the main road or trail within about 300 yards either side of the bridge at the back of the park by the boat ramp. Also heard during the evening was a single crowing note that most certainly came from a Ring-necked Pheasant. SW Area Park is best accessed by taking exit 5, B&A Blvd, off of I-695 south of Baltimore. Go north on B&A maybe two miles to the Patapsco River, then continue less than a mile to Baltimore Highlands. Turn right on New York Ave., or any of the next three or four streets bearing names of states. At the end of the road, turn left, and look for the Baltimore Highlands Light Rail parking area on the right, where you can park. There is currently no vehicular access into the park due to the Light Rail construction. Walk the road into the park, turn left a short distance, then turn right up an incline along the main road to the back. If anyone does go to see the woodcocks, and doesn't post their findings to the listserve, I would appreciate any notes on activity sent to me offline at the address given below, since I am currently covering this area for the atlas project. Charlie Kucera also reports good woodcock activity at UMBC, which I am also covering for the atlas, and would likewise appreciate any reports from there, particularly later in the season. 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 ======================================================================= =========================================================================