[MDOsprey] Talbot County Birding on 22 Aug

Leslie Roslund (Lroslund@bluecrab.org)
Sun, 22 Aug 1999 20:22:08 -0400


Ospreyers:
	A small group of Talbot County Birders spent much of the day checking out
a few of their favorite sites.  A total of 71 species were found.

	A section of recently cut-over forest at Black Walnut Point on Tilghman
Island provided most of the birds.  

	Highlights:(includes all sites visited)

	Red-breasted Nuthatches  -  a nice little group, perhaps 5, showed up in
the top of some of the standing pines beside the cut-over area.  Since very
few Red-breasted Nuthatches were seen in Talbot County in 1998, we would
like to believe that this set bodes well for there being more of them
around here in 1999.

	Blue-gray Gnatcatchers  - many
	American Redstart - 2   (no other warblers)
	Solitary Sandpiper - 2    (in small woodland wet spots)
	Royal Tern - 4

	Bald Eagle, Marsh Harrier, Kestrel, Red-tailed Hawk

	One rather novel (and somewhat disgusting) scene was presented by two
immature Cowbirds.  The birds had us quite confused regarding identy, being
so drab, and also by flitting and hopping around amongst limbs in low brush
piles.  When we got close enough, their identy and some reasons for their
behavior both became obvious - they were progeny of a mother who had
successfully parasitized a nest of a Carolina Wren!  Their behavior, quite
wren-like - low to ground and flitting from branch to branch - must have
been learned from the foster mother, as they followed her around begging
for food. We saw her feeding them, and by that time we had gotten close
enough to also clearly recognize what they were.  Ugh!

Les Roslund
Lroslund@bluecrab.org
Easton, MD