Date: Fri, 19 Mar 2004 09:47:27 -0500 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: "Boughton, James M." Subject: Re: Hughes Hollow Wednesday morning MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Rick and others, As you may have seen, Sarah Anderson ("BirdNerd3") took some photos of what appeared to be a variant coot at Hughes Hollow on the same day (last Saturday) that I had seen the one that I reported here. She has posted those photos on her website, and a companion from the group she was with has blown one up and sharpened the detail on his computer. Of course, there's no way to tell whether those photos are of the same bird that I saw, but they don't seem to reveal much that's especially unusual. Separately, I ran across an interesting essay on scoring facial shields on coots, at http://www.geocities.com/secaribbirds/idamericancaribbeancoot.html. That article notes that male coots often have enlarged facial shields during breeding season. Also, after studying several photographs this week, I realize that Phil's observation was correct, that the red callus can be very difficult to spot, even in good light. So I may have been overreacting to a normal seasonal change in appearance, but in any case it was a pretty impressive coot! Many thanks to you, Sarah, Phil and others for following up. I hope it wasn't too much of a snipe hunt! Jim Boughton Chevy Chase -----Original Message----- From: Rick Sussman [mailto:Warblerick@AOL.COM]=20 Sent: Thursday, March 18, 2004 7:45 PM To: MDOSPREY@HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM Subject: [MDOSPREY] Hughes Hollow Wednesday morning Hi all, I was out that way yesterday AM so stopped by to look for the coot. Didn't see any unusual ones, just 3 "normal" ones. Lots of Green-winged Teal, many Blue-winged Teal, a smattering of Ring-necked Ducks and a lone Pied-billed Grebe. A pair of Wood Ducks and a pair of A. Black Ducks flew by, and a pair of Mallards were with the teals. Lots of Yellow-rumps were moving through and a single Swamp Sparrow was seen. This morning I went up to Greenbridge Rd. to see if I could find a Pine Warbler. I took 2 steps towards the water after leaving my van when I heard one sing (from the pines!) and walked back up the road to locate it. I heard it singing and it was obviously moving around, but the light wasn't good. I spished a bit and a bird flew into the roadside trees very close to me. It was indeed a very handsome male Pine Warbler, who obligingly perched very near, turned around, hopped up a bit and then sang for me before flying across the road to the deciduous woods. Lots of Common Mergs on the water but not much else. Rick Sussman Ashton,MD warblerick@aol.com =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 =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 =========================================================================