is "here" in DC or MD? Re: [MDOsprey] pelican still here 8/19
Robert Weiner (rweiner@gwis2.circ.gwu.edu)
Thu, 19 Aug 1999 21:46:50 -0400 (EDT)
ospreyers,
I suppose that if we can't argue about the identification of the pelican,
we can at least argue about where it was seen. Like Andy, I observed the
pelican today (along with montgomery co. birders David and Ellen Cohen;
surprisingly, there was not a single birder at Jones point the entire time
we were there, roughly 745 -9AM) on the snags in the Potomac, from which
it did not budge.
A local fisherman/boater had a reasonably detailed depth map of the
Potomac. According to the map (as best we could interpet it), the snags
are located in an area labeled "spoilage" ranging between 3 and 8 feet
deep (the navigable part of the river is narrow there, and close to the VA
side), and at least 75 feet, and possibly as much as 100 feet northeast
into MD of the invisible (for now at least) diagonal boundary. As a DC
birder, I would be extremely pleased if Todd was correct that the snags
are in DC waters, but they do not appear to be so from the depth chart.
It also appears that as Todd observed, the extreme southeastern tip of
Jones Point part of Maryland. On the lighthouse grounds there is a small
stone marker with info about the granting of the land in 1654, but I did
not pay much attention to the details.
This was my first experience with birding the hydrilla mats, and my hat is
off to those who do it regularly; it's one thing to ID a pelican looking
into the sun (me, not the pelican) over a half-mile away, another to
distinguish the various shorebirds and terns that to me appeared to be the
size of dots, even in the Cohen's Kowa Scope! We were looking for black
terns, and the best we could do at tern identification was Caspian (lots)
and smaller-than-Caspian (lots more!)
cheers, and good pelican hunting!
Robert Weiner (rweiner@gwis2.circ.gwu.edu)
International Business Department
George Washington University
Washington DC 20052
202 994 5981