Calvert Brown-headed Nuthatch 2/14 (no)

Gregory B Miller (gregorym@erols.com)
Sun, 14 Feb 1999 23:48:16 -0500


Howdy All!

After house hunting in Baltimore today, I returned to Southern Calvert
County.  It was such a pretty day and I was already feeling just a
little sorry about leaving.  Encouraged by Marshall's post about the
Brown-headed Nuthatches, I donned my lucky bins and hiked out Port Lane
and made the one-mile trek down to the end of Rousby Hall Rd on foot. 
The nuthatches were probably at my feeders while I was out hunting...  I
was out from 3:30-5:30pm.  I dipped on the nuthatches, but here's what I
found:

2	Blue Jay
17	Com Crow
2	Ring-billed Gull
5	N Cardinal
8	Carolina Wren
17	White-throated Sparrow (Port Lane)
1	Song Sparrow
1	Hermit Thrush
3	House Finch
5	Brown-headed Cowbird
12	Red-winged Blackbird
40+	McMynas (Starlings)
7	Tufted Titmouse
9	Golden-crowned Kinglet
1	Ruby-crowned Kinglet
1	Brown Creeper
68	Yellow-rumped Warbler
18	Carolina Chickadee
1	N Flicker (Yellow-shafted)
2	N Mockingbird
2	Red-bellied Woodpecker
2	Downy Woodpecker
1	Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (only the 3rd I've seen in 2 yrs here)
2	Eastern Bluebird
0	Eastern Towhee
0	Am Goldfinch
0	Am Woodcock (a little too early; I sometimes here them from the back
yard in the evenings in March; I heard that the neighbor drained the
little marsh last Fall--hope the Woodcocks stuck around somewhere
anyway...)
0	Pine Warbler (I've looked two winters about 1/2 mile from the end
Rousby Hall with no luck, but I suspect that one or more may winter
here--this area usually has singing Pine Warblers by the 2nd or 3rd week
of March and I've seen them into November...)

In the back yard overlooking the Patuxent River:

128	Oldsquaw (numbers are finally returning)
8	Am Goldeneye (low)
14	Bufflehead
1	Com Loon (low)
2	Horned Grebe (numbers were up 2 wks ago--had as many as 12)
2	Mallard
5	Am Black Duck (unusual--only my 2nd sighting)
4	Great Black-backed Gull (only 1 adult)
28	Herring Gull
45	Ring-billed Gull
1	Bald Eagle (adult)
1	Great Blue Heron
0	other diving ducks (I've had several species of ducks here the last 2
winters; most notably Canvasback, Ruddy Duck, and Lesser Scaup, but I've
seen not a single one of these this year...someone 2 or 3 docks toward
Solomons set up a blind at the end of their dock this year and I heard
shots well into January...)

At the end of the day, I stood out on the dock and watched the last
flecks of liquid gold disappear from off the surface of the tranquil
blue waters of the Patuxent River as the sun melted into the deep orange
strand on the horizon.  I felt my eyes blur slightly as they welled up
with tears...a little remorse as I enjoyed again one of my last sunsets
as a resident hear in pleasant Southern Maryland.  But, as the sun sets
on one horizon, it will surely rise on another...hello Baltimore and a
new world of experiences...
-- 
Greg Miller
Lusby, Maryland, USA
Home-	gregorym@erols.com
Work-	gregory.b.miller@bge.com
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