Date: Sun, 21 Mar 2004 11:44:08 -0500 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: "George M. Jett" Subject: Vernal Equnox Birds of Charles Co. - March 20 Comments: To: SMAS Comments: cc: Miliff@aol.com, BlkVulture@aol.com MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Folks Gwen and I took a small group of southern Maryland birders to Allen's = Fresh and Cobb Neck to do some equinox county bird listing. We had a = nice mix of about 65 species for the group with some good county birds = for some of the participants. Thanks for coming along. Big year Charles County highlights for me were 4-5 Black Scoter (#120), = probably Merlin (#121?) , Wilson's Snipe (#118), Lesser Yellowlegs = (#116), Laughing Gull (#117), and Forster's Tern (#119). The falcon was = seen on Mt. Victoria Road after we split from the group. A smallish all = dark, pointed-winged falcon came swooping across a farm field from the = north hunting Robins. Gwen and I caught the bird out to right briefly. = No contrast was observed from our quick look. You can expect contrast = on American Kestrel, which were also in the area. I suspect the Kestrel = ducked and returned to the wire shortly after the other falcon passed. =20 Other birds along the way: Common Loon - Cobb Island Horned Grebe - ~30 Cobb Island Double-crested Cormorants - ~500 Aqualand, Morgantown, Cobb Island. = Aqualand is now charging $3.75 to stop at the beach. Try during the = week if you go or expect to pay. Great Blue Heron- 3 Cobb Neck=20 Black Vulture - along the way - 12 Turkey Vulture - along the way - 8 Canada Goose - 30 Breeze Point Sewage Treatment Plant (STP) Mute Swan - 1 at Hatton Creek. =20 Mallard - along the way, 6 at STP Northern Shoveler - 4 on Wicomico River at the end of River Road Green-winged Teal - ~60 at Allen's Fresh Canvasback - 3 on Wicomico River at the end of River Road. May be the = same ones seen from Hatton Creek. Greater Scaup - 2 at STP; one male, one female; several at Wicomico = River Rd. Lesser Scaup - STP and Wicomico River. Long-tailed Duck - 50+ Cobb Island in the river Surf Scoter - ~60 Cobb Island in the river Black Scoter - 4-5 (one female + males) Cobb Island in the river Common Goldeneye - 3 Cobb Island in the river Ruddy Duck - ~1600 on Wicomico River at two spots Osprey - 16 along Potomac and Wicomico Rivers Bald Eagle - 6 at Allen's Fresh Red-tailed Hawk- Allen's Fresh Cooper's Hawk - Breeze Point STP American Kestrel - 3 along the way (Rt. 257/Mt. Victoria Rd.) Probable Merlin - Mt. Victoria Rd. Killdeer - 1 at Allen's Fresh, 3 at STP Greater Yellowlegs - 7 Allen's Fresh Lesser Yellowlegs - Allen's Fresh Wilson's Snipe - 1 at STP, maybe more. I only flushed one bird. Laughing Gull - 1 Morgantown Ring-billed Gull - ? along the way Herring Gull - more ? along the way Great Black-backed Gull - 35 Morgantown and elsewhere Forster's Tern - 1 at Cobb Island on rock jetty Belted Kingfisher - Swan Point Rd. wetlands Red-bellied Woodpecker - Hatton Creek Rd. (We did not do much land = birding. We were concentrating on waterfowl.) Female Yellow-bellied Sapsucker at Allen's Fresh Hairy Woodpecker - Hatton Creek Rd. Downy Woodpecker - Hatton Creek Rd.=20 Northern Flicker - 2 along the way Blue Jay - Hatton Creek Rd. Fish Crow - Cobb Island, STP (7) American Crow - along the way Tree Swallow - Allen's Fresh (12); Swan Point Road (10); STP Carolina Chickadee - along the way Tufted Titmouse - a couple along the way Carolina Wren - along the way Eastern Bluebird - two on the wire Allen's Fresh Rd. Time to clean out = your nest boxes, please. Northern Mockingbird - three along the way European Starling - along the way Yellow-rumped Warbler - 6 Swan Point Rd. Pine Warbler - several Hatton Creek Rd. Eastern Towhee - STP, Md rest area, Rt. 301 near Nice Bridge Field Sparrow - 2 singing on territory Allen's Fresh Song Sparrow - almost all stops Swamp Sparrow - one at STP and one at Swan Point Rd. Calling only. White-throated Sparrow - along the way White-crowned Sparrow - 2 juveniles on a farm road near Allen's Fresh Northern Cardinal - along the way Red-winged Blackbird - wetlands along the way like Allen's Fresh Common Grackles - along the way House Finch - La Plata American Goldfinch - feeder along Mt. Victoria Rd. House Sparrow - Cobb Island What did I miss gang?=20 At home before and after the trip Gwen and I had the following = additional species for the day: Great-horned and Barred Owl (calling at = 3 AM), White-breasted Nuthatch, 2 Rusty Blackbird, and 5 Fox Sparrow. = After the trip I had a male Osprey soar to the east of the house about 5 = PM. for #51 for the house year list. Happy equinox to all the druids out there. 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 =========================================================================