[MDOsprey] What a week it has been!
Norm Saunders (osprey@ARI.Net)
Fri, 31 Dec 1999 14:30:36 -0500
We left last Sunday morning to head over to the Eastern Shore. On the
way we stopped in Annapolis and were able to quickly locate the Lark
Sparrow that Marshall had discovered earlier. New state bird no. 1!
Monday we spent scouting our area for the Ocean City Count (South
Point--Middle). Tuesday was the count day itself and I have to say Fran
and I have probably never had a better day of CBC birding than we had
this year in OC. The two of us tallied 69 species, including merlin,
laughing gull, gray catbird, tree sparrow, lots of bob whites, a phoebe,
and a palm warbler. The highlight of the day though was a bird
discovered by David Mozurkewich which he was able to relocate later in
the afternoon for us--Orange-crowned Warbler. New state bird no. 2!
At the tally rally that evening Greg Miller described the location where
he had found his good bird of the day, a Clay-colored Sparrow. Luckily
we were able to relocate this lovely bird early on Wednesday morning
for new state bird no. 3!
The rest of Wednesday was not so good--the wind was blowing very
hard and we were unable to locate the Le Conte's Sparrow that had
been seen on Monday afternoon along Rumbley Point Road in
Somerset County.
Today, thanks to Chris Barnard's report on MDOsprey for the 30th, we
were able to locate one of our biggest nemesis birds in Maryland, the
Northern Shrike. The bird was seen between 9:30 and 9:45 am today in
the field northwest of the intersection of Cap Stine and South Renn
Roads in Frederick County. A lovely addition to our year list and MD
state bird no. 4 for the week!
To everyone who posts these wonderful sightings here, thank you so
much!
And a Happy New Year to all of you!
Best,
Norm & Fran Saunders
===============
Norm Saunders
Colesville, MD
osprey@ari.net