Conowingo Dam: Thanksgiving Day

Rick Blom (rblom@blazie.com)
Fri, 28 Nov 1997 06:49:58 -0500


        This is the Conowingo Dam report for Thursday, November 25, 1997.
Observer was Rick Blom. As many as six other birders were at the dam for
various lengths of tiem. Coverage was from 10:00 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. Very
windy but clear. There was fulkl generation the entire time and the water
was high.

Great Blue Heron                100
Black-crowned Night-Heron       1
Canada Goose                    3
Mallard                         6
Black Dyck                      12
Tukey Vulture                   5
Black Vulture                   18
Bald Eagle                      1 (imm)
Peregrine Falcon                1 (imm; male?)
Bonaparte's Gull                15
Ring-billed Gull                10,000
Herring Gull                    500
Lesser Black-backed Gull        3 (2 ad; 1 3rd winter)
Great Black-backed Gull         56
Rock Dove                       100+

        The Peregrine spent the morning on the superstructure and chasing
pigeons. I assume it is an imm male because it is not a very large bird. He
is putting on a fairly spectacular show if like like Peregriney stuff. The
gulls do not seem bothered by him and do not flush even when he flies
through the area where they are siitting. The gull numbers were very high
when I first arrived but were down to 1,000 by 12:30. Most had flown above
the dam and were sitting on the lake.

Rick

"It's not a bad idea to get in the habit of writing down one's thoughts. It
saves having to bother anyone with them." Isabel Colegate

Rick Blom
rblom@blazie.com
Bel Air, Maryland