Date: Sat, 6 Mar 2004 18:32:21 -0500 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: "George M. Jett" Subject: Signs of Spring Comments: To: SMAS Comments: cc: Miliff@aol.com, BlkVulture@aol.com, John Staples MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Folks A few more signs of spring appeared in various parts of Charles Co. = today. =20 First, I saw copulating Black Vultures near Faulkner, MD on the east = side of Rt. 301. =20 Second, I had a pair of Pine Warblers on River Road, which is off of = Wicomico Beach Road on Cobb Neck. The male was singing, and I used = techniques Jim Stasz taught me to bring the pair close to the car. Pine = Warbler is # 113 for the Big Charles Co. list. =20 Third, three Yellow-rumped Myrtle Warblers briefly visited the house = around 5 :30 PM tonight. Yard bird # 48 for the year. Other birds of note: The total Black Vulture count on the Cobb Neck area was about 20. Two = Red-tailed Hawks were also observed. One was hovering, reminding me = that not all hovering buteos are Rough-legged Hawk. A single American = Kestrel was near Thompsonville. About 10 Osprey were observed along the Potomac and Wicomico River = looking for where last year's nest used to be. In particular, the duck = blind at Morgantown, a historical site that is no longer available, = thanks to the fury of Isabel. This situation is common along these two = rivers. If anyone is considering putting up a platform nest, please do = so now. =20 About 55 Ring-necked Duck were lounging at the Breeze Point Sewage = Treatment Plant, Cobb Neck. There were also six Killdeer at this spot. = Sparrows included 3 Swamp, 3 Savannah, 2 Song, and several = White-throated Sparrow. =20 I had what was most probably (95+ %) a male White-winged Scoter on the = Wicomico, observed from the end of River Road. What else is all black = except for white speculum, and has a longish tail in proportion to the = neck. I did not get the impression of a long necked bird like a = merganser. The bird was flying left to right about a half mile south = near Hatton Creek, and quickly went out of sight. I headed to Hatton = Creek with no success. A better look is preferred since this is a = county bird. Hatton Creek has a new boat ramp, parking, and a place to = check more frequently than in the past. You can see the river now. The Wicomico also produced 50+ Ruddy Duck, one Bald Eagle, 30+ = Bufflehead, 10+ Canvasback, a few Common Goldeneye, and ~100 Scaup sp. = The Potomac side had very little. Maybe one female Goldeneye. The = wind was strong and ducks like protected waterbodies in these = conditions. Most of the thousands of Canada Geese on Cobb Neck have = left for other parts. Large numbers of Great Black-backed Gulls (~60), and Double-crested = Cormorants (~500) were near Morgantown. Also along River Road was a beautiful Golden-crowned Kinglet. At the house yesterday I had a high count of 10 Fox Sparrow. Gwen = counted seven tonight. One lingering male Rusty Blackbird was also here = today. Good spring sightings 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 =========================================================================