[MDOsprey] (Fwd) DC Area, 11/30/99
Norm Saunders (osprey@ARI.Net)
Tue, 30 Nov 1999 18:29:45 -0500
------- Forwarded message follows -------
From: scordle@capaccess.org
To: birdeast@listserv.arizona.edu
Subject: DC Area, 11/30/99
Date sent: Tue, 30 Nov 1999 13:17:45 -0500
Hotline: Voice of the Naturalist
Date: 11/30/99
Coverage: MD/DC/VA/DE
Telephone: 301-652-1088 option 1
Reports (voice): 301-652-1088 option 2
(fax): 301-951-7179
(email): voice@capaccess.org
(deadline): midnight mondays
Compiler: Jane Hill
Sponsor: Audubon Naturalist Society of the Central
Atlantic States (independent of NAS!)
Transcriber: Steve Cordle (scordle@capaccess.org)
!!Check www.sitesbysteve.com/nvbc/vguide.txt for guidelines on
reporting your sightings!!
This is the Voice of the Naturalist, a service of the Audubon
Naturalist Society. This tape was made Tuesday, Nov 30, at 12:30
pm. Please consider joining ANS, especially if you are a regular
user of the Voice (Indiv.$30; Family $40; Nature Steward $60;
Audubon Advocate $100). The membership number is 301-652-9188
ext. 12, the address is 8940 Jones Mill Road, Chevy Chase, MD
20815, and the website is http://www.AudubonNaturalist.org.
Top birds this week are PACIFIC LOON* and KELP GULL* in MD; SNOWY
OWL in VA; and YELLOW-HEADED BLACKBIRD in DE.
Other birds of interest include: BROWN PELICAN, NORTHERN GANNET,
SANDHILL CRANE, EURASIAN WIGEON and other waterfowl, COMMON
MOORHEN, shorebirds, BONAPARTE'S GULL, FORSTER'S TERN, raptors,
SHORT-EARED OWL, HORNED LARK, BLACK-CAPPED CHICKADEE, SEDGE WREN,
LOGGERHEAD SHRIKE and possible NORTHERN SHRIKE, AMERICAN PIPIT,
LAPLAND LONGSPUR, SNOW BUNTING, sparrows, PURPLE FINCH, and PINE
SISKIN.
The PACIFIC LOON* that has been present for the past two weeks on
the Susquehanna River, above Conowingo Dam in the vicinity of
Broad Creek, Harford Co, MD (DeLorme 76, A3), was seen again this
week. The most recent report was for Nov 28, both morning and
afternoon. The bird is being seen from the Cecil Co side,
sometimes fairly close to the shoreline. To reach this area,
cross Conowingo Dam on US 1 heading north. Turn left on US 222,
take another left on Pilot Town Rd, and left again on Bald Friar
Rd (which turns into a dirt road). Park at the end of the road,
near railroad tracks, lock your car, and walk upriver along the
tracks to your right. In about 1/4 mile, where the tracks bend
sharply to the right, you will be looking across the river
towards Broad Creek. The bird was also seen from a point
downriver from the junction of Bald Friar Rd with the railroad
tracks.
An immature SNOWY OWL was spotted on the neck of beach that goes
out to the hook at Chincoteague NWR, Accomack Co, VA, at 10 a.m.,
Nov 26. It was first seen perched near the shoreline on the
Tom's Cove side, then it flew off.
An immature male YELLOW-HEADED BLACKBIRD was spotted in a flock
of blackbirds along Whitehall Neck Rd, the entrance road to
Bombay Hook NWR, DE, on the morning of Nov 27.
A EURASIAN WIGEON was observed in Snow Goose Pool, from the
Wildlife Drive, Chincoteague NWR, VA, on Nov 28.
Maryland's KELP GULL* was most recently reported late on the
afternoon of Nov 29, as usual on the pilings behind the Sea
Breeze Restaurant, Sandgates, St. Mary's Co (DeLorme 30, B2).
A SANDHILL CRANE was seen again on a pond on private property in
Talbot Co, MD, at 10 a.m., Nov 26. The pond can be viewed from
Tarbutton Mill Rd (DeLorme 42, B2). Take Rte 50 south from Easton
and turn left (east) on Tarbutton Mill. In less than a mile, you
will see a pond on your right. Ahead are brick posts leading to a
private driveway. Please park and view only from the public road.
Viewing is most reliable in the morning and evening.
An immature COMMON MOORHEN was seen at Huntley Meadows Pk,
Fairfax Co, VA, late on the afternoon of Nov 26.
SHORT-EARED OWLs were reported from several locations this week.
A lone bird was seen along Bull Run Post Office Rd, in far
western Fairfax Co, VA, at dusk on Nov 24, and at dawn on Nov 27
and 29. This owl was beneath powerlines in a field on the east
side of the road. Two SHORT-EARED OWLs were seen traversing a
grassy swale through farm fields along MD Rt 213, just north of
Cecilton, Cecil Co, MD, between 4:00 and 4:25 p.m., Nov 27; the
fields are just north of the Anchorage B&B. Two more SHORT-EARED
OWLs were seen at sunset along Maple Dam Rd, which runs between
Shorter's Wharf and Key Wallace Drive, Blackwater NWR, Dorchester
Co, MD, on Nov 28. And another pair of SHORT-EARED OWLs was
patrolling marshes along Port Mahon Rd, Little Creek Wildlife
Area, DE, between 4:00 and 4:30 p.m., Nov 27; these birds were
about 1/3 of the way down Port Mahon, near where the road crosses
a culvert.
A SEDGE WREN was spotted at the eastern end of Swan Cove, near
the washed-out parking lot, just off Beach Road, Chincoteague
NWR, VA, over the weekend.
A dark-morph RED-TAILED HAWK was seen near Manassas, Prince
William Co, VA, on Nov 24. This same bird frequented this spot
from January through March last winter. The site is a triangle
of land between I-66 on the north, the VA Rt 234 Bypass on the
west, and the onramp from 234 north to 66 east. Parking can be
found by going 1/4 mile south on 234 and turning onto Balls Ford
Rd, either right or left, then turning into a side street.
Raptors seen in DC this week included a MERLIN at the golf course
on Hains Point; an adult BALD EAGLE off Hains Point; and two
COOPER'S HAWKs circling above the 14th Street Bridge, all on
Thanksgiving Day morning, Nov 25. In nearby downtown Bethesda,
Montgomery Co, MD, a MERLIN and a COOPER'S HAWK were spotted from
a 6th-floor office window, Nov 29. An OSPREY was perched at
Roaches Run, Arlington, VA, on the morning of Nov 28.
As the hawk-counting season winds down at Snicker's Gap
Hawkwatch, on the Loudoun/Clarke Co line, VA, the seasonal tally
of RED-TAILED HAWKs has topped 3,000 birds. This week, two
GOLDEN EAGLEs were spotted by hawk watchers there on Nov 27, and
a single GOLDEN EAGLE came through the following day.
A LOGGERHEAD SHRIKE was seen again near Poolesville, Montgomery
Co, MD, 9:00-9:30 a.m., Nov 24. This bird was sitting in trees at
the county police firing range across from the National
Institutes of Health facility on Elmer School Road (ADC 18, K5).
Another SHRIKE, possibly a NORTHERN, visited a feeder in Bel Air,
Harford Co, MD, on Nov 27 and 28.
In addition to raptors, Thanksgiving Day birders reported a
variety of water birds in DC. These included seven female
RED-BREASTED MERGANSERs and 36 RING-NECKED DUCKs at Georgetown
Reservoir; seven HORNED GREBEs in the Potomac River between Hains
Point and National Airport; two HORNED GREBEs in the Tidal Basin;
still another HORNED GREBE in the Potomac, just downstream of
Memorial Bridge; and two COMMON LOONs off Hains Point. Also that
day, a raft of approximately 5,000 RUDDY DUCKs, along with 20
CANVASBACKs and 25 LESSER SCAUP, were frequenting DC waters at
the mouth of Four-Mile Run; and in the Anacostia River, just off
Anacostia Park, across from the Navy Yard, there were two male
OLDSQUAW, 40 RUDDY DUCKs, and 8 BUFFLEHEADs.
Water birds seen elsewhere in our region included an OLDSQUAW,
with a flock of BUFFLEHEADs, on the Potomac River, as viewed from
the aqueduct bridge at Riley's Lock, C&O Canal, Montgomery Co,
MD, on Nov 28. On the coast, four male HARLEQUIN DUCKs, COMMON
EIDERs, and PURPLE SANDPIPERs were frequenting Ocean City Inlet,
Worcester Co, MD, on Nov 26 and 27. All three SCOTER species,
and numerous NORTHERN GANNETs, were also seen at Ocean City inlet
on those days, as well as at Pt Lookout State Park, St Mary's Co,
MD, on Nov 28. Also on the 28th, eight BROWN PELICANs were
spotted at Pt Lookout, and flocks of BONAPARTE'S GULLs were noted
there Nov 28 and 29. Two FORSTER'S TERNs were at Point Lookout
on Nov 29, and another was noted off the mouth of Hunting Creek,
south of Alexandria, VA, on Nov 27. TUNDRA SWANs were reported
from several locations this week.
A flock of eight AMERICAN AVOCETs was frequenting an impoundment
on the wash flats at Chincoteague NWR, VA, on Nov 28. Other
shorebird sightings at Chincoteague over the long Thanksgiving
weekend included four RED KNOTs on the wash flats and at least 30
MARBLED GODWITs in Swan Cove.
A major invasion of BLACK-CAPPED CHICKADEEs has been noted in the
Shenandoah Valley, northwestern Virginia. In the Stephens City
area of Frederick Co there, BLACK-CAPs now compose 10 to 50
percent of the chickadee sightings. This invasion comes after
years of few or no BLACK-CAP sightings in that area.
All three eastern NUTHATCH species--RED-BREASTED, WHITE-BREASTED,
and BROWN-HEADED--were seen at Point Lookout State Park, MD, on
Nov 28.
A variety of SPARROWs were reported from around our region,
including FOX, AMERICAN TREE, and WHITE-CROWNED.
In southern Frederick County, MD, in fields along Cap Stein Rd
just south of the intersection with south Renn Rd (ADC 37, G2), a
flock of HORNED LARKs, several LAPLAND LONGSPURs, at least two
AMERICAN PIPITs, and at least one SNOW BUNTING were spotted on
Nov 26. Fifty SNOW BUNTINGs were seen on an airfield at Patuxent
River Naval Air Station, St Mary's Co, MD, on Nov 29. And three
SNOW BUNTINGs were spotted at Sandy Point State Park, Anne
Arundel Co, MD, on Nov 28.
Reports of PINE SISKINs at bird feeders this week included five
birds in a No. Arlington backyard on Nov 28; several in Stephens
City, Frederick Co, VA, during the week; and a single bird in
Darnestown, Montgomery Co, MD, on Nov 26. A PURPLE FINCH was
spotted at the Metz Wetlands, Woodbridge, Prince William Co, VA,
on Nov 28; and another one was frequenting a feeder in
Gaithersburg, Montgomery Co, MD, on Nov 30.
There will be a reservations-only walk at Black Hill Regional
Park, MD, on Sun, Dec 5. To reserve a spot, call the leader, Dick
Cleveland of Gaithersburg, at 301-926-7109.
To report bird sightings, you can e-mail your report to
voice@capaccess.org, or fax it to ANS at 301-951-7179. You may
also report by calling 301-652-1088 and selecting menu option 2.
Please post e-mail reports before 10 am Tuesday, and be sure to
include your name and a Tuesday morning phone number. Thank you
for calling, and GOOD BIRDING.
*Of interest to the MD/DC Avian Records Committee. For more
information, visit: http://www.MDBirds.org/mddcrc/rcreview.html
------- End of forwarded message -------
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Norm Saunders
Colesville, MD
osprey@ari.net