Garrett County weekend
Ellen Paul (epaul@dclink.com)
Mon, 10 May 1999 06:21:55 -0400
Tim and I went out to Swallow Falls State Park this weekend for a bit of
peace and quiet birding. We drove out Friday night so as to be ready
for birding first thing Saturday morning.
A word on logistics: Even the new Claudia Wilds is dated with regard to
Garrett County lodging and such. She says that birders will need to
stay in Oakland to find motels. Well, yes - those old, crummy motels
that were built in the 50's. Those who don't like camping or cabins can
find newer, modern hotels right in Deep Creek Lake on 219, and that's no
further from the parks and other birding areas than is Oakland. Camping
in Swallow Falls is nice - there are plain campsites with nothing more
than a cooking pit (all have grills) and some with electric hookups.
Pets are allowed at some. Although you probably don't need reservations
this early (we were one of only five campsites that were occupied this
weekend) it can't hurt to call and reserve. The regular campsites are
$11 per night and the ones with the electrical hookups are $15. The
bath houses are clean. At the adjacent Herrington Manor, there are
little cabins. I don't know how much they are. They looked very nice.
On the same road that goes to the parks (Mayhew Inn Road), there is a
lodge called the Red Run (didn't look at it) and just behind the parks,
heading towards the Cranesville Swamp, there is a small cabin resort
called Youghigheny Mountain Resort. Those who are camping will want to
note that there is a new Food Town in Deep Creek Lake (again, much
better than the grocery store in Oakland).
A couple of important points to note: the main entrance road to Swallow
Falls is closed for construction so they detour you around to the back
of the park and in on Maple Glade road. That means there is a fair
amount of traffic on Maple Glade road now, making it less suitable for
birding except very early in the morning.
Also, the foliage is at least three weeks later than ours, so you can
see everything really well. (This wasn't true last year - we were out
there the same weekend as MOS and the leaves were in full leaf - that
was only one week later in the year - however, locals told us that it
was very unusual to have so much foliage at that time of year).
Well, we arrived on Friday night and so did a huge thunderstorm. It
rained through the night and didn't stop until Saturday morning. The
rest of the day was fairly nice, though. We started by exploring around
the waste water pond that is below the campsites. Last year, this was a
great marsh full of birds. This year, the beaver dam had been taken out
(on purpose?) and so the area is fairly dry and certainly less birdy.
However, the brush was full of Magnolia Warblers, Black-capped
Chickadees, Blue-gray Gnatcatchers, Gray Catbirds, and Ruby-crowned
Kinglets. Large numbers of Song Sparrows. One Indigo Bunting. Be
careful where you walk as there as Song Sparrow nests along here. Any
clump of dry grass could be a nest. As you walk around the back of the
pond, it gets a bit muddy. We found a Black-throated Green Warbler,
Scarlet Tanager, and more sparrows.
The next stop was the river and the woods on both sides of the entrance
road. Stacks of Magnolia Warblers, Northern Parulas, and several
Blue-headed Vireos.
We then headed up Maple Glade Road. Here, we had Blackburnians, more
Black-throated Greens, Black and White Warbler, Ovenbird, Wood Thrush,
Willow Flycatchers (yes, we're sure - they were calling), Northern
Parulas. A word here on the birding tapes and the descriptions in the
field guides - don't rule anything out unless you've seen it. We didn't
find ANY Blackburnians singing the songs on the tapes or described in
the field guides, with the high notes at the end. Every Blackburnian we
found dropped in pitch at the end of each phrase.
We spent the afternoon at the Mt. Nebo Wildlife Management Area. A
couple of storms blew past, making it hard to hear anything. However,
it also kept the birds close to the ground. (NOTE: birds out in
Garrett County seemed generally unconcerned about humans. Everywhere we
went, we found birds coming out in the open, just a few feet away. The
chickadees, in particular, were flying right towards us and landing
within a foot or so of our knees). We were the only people at Mt Nebo
the whole time we were there! Birds here included Canada Warbler
(totally wrong habitat - it was flying through tree tops in an area with
no brush at all - which should remind all of us that on migration, birds
are not necessarily restricted to the habitat described in the field
guides. That was true of the Willow Flycatchers also. We also had
Chestnut-sided Warbler, Scarlet Tanager, Rose-breasted Grosbeak,
White-eyed Vireo. A Ruby-throated Hummingbird repeatedly buzzed us -
flying right up to us and around us several times.
On the roads around the area, we had Bobolinks, Meadowlards,
Black-throated Blues.
That evening, we went out to the road that leads to Cranesville Swamp
and found a Saw-whet Owl calling in a fir tree along the roadside.
Sunday was very overcast, windy and chilly. We were having trouble
seeing even the colors on a Blackburnian. However, we picked up pretty
much more of the same species at Swallow Falls. On Maple Glade Road, we
found Gray-cheeked Thrush. We then headed over to Herrington Manor.
Here, we spent most of the time in the swampy area behind the lake and
picked up Brewster's Warbler, Eastern Kingbird, Purple Finch. It may
just have been the wind, but again, this area was much birdier last
year. Last year, we had two Black-billed Cuckoos; this year none. A
Common Loon was in the water and two more flew over. Spotted Sandpipers
along the rip-rap at the end of the lake. The woods along the roads
yielded a Red-breasted Nuthatch, House Wren, Eastern Peewee, Eastern
Bluebird, Golden-crowned Kinglets.
Not alot of raptors out there this weekend. I don't know if that's
typical or not. We had one each Red-tailed, Red-shoulded, and
Broad-wing.
The migration out there seems to be just a bit behind the migration
here, so assuming there is good weather, next weekend ought to be very
good out there. You'll pretty much have the place to yourself - we saw
only three other birders the entire weekend. With eighty species for
day and a morning, plus the excellent looks resulting from birds being
down low and apparently unconcerned about your presence, and less
foliage, it's really worth the drive out there.
Ellen
--
Ellen Paul
Executive Director
The Ornithological Council
Mailto:epaul@dclink.com
Ornithological Council Website: http://www.nmnh.si.edu/BIRDNET
"Providing Scientific Information about Birds"