Dear MD Osprey --

Sorry for the late post. I birded along Dance Mill Rd. and Cloverland
Dr. (just off Dulaney Valley Rd.) in Phoenix, MD on Sunday, May 2, from
about 8:30 to 10:00 a.m. It was cool and misty, and was raining by the
time I finished.

The highlight of this post is a sighting of about 30 bobolinks in
breeding plumage. I've seen bobolinks in fall colors before, but never
in black w/ the buff bands around the back of their heads. The bobolinks
were in the willow treetops along a stream that crosses Cloverland about
a quarter mile from where it turns off from Dance Mill Rd. I got a good
long look at them, and they hopped back and forth in the treetops and
sang quite loudly for more than half an hour. They had the white patches
on shoulder and tail, a pure black front, and the buffy yellow patch
that wraps around the backs of their heads.

This little stream valley is a fine place for other birds too:

1 male orchard oriole
4 american goldfinches - 1 male
tree swallows
barn swallows
mockingbird
cardinal
catbirds
chipping sparrows
3 grasshopper sparrows
blue jay
fish crows
wood thrush
tufted titmouse
white breasted nuthatch
common grackles


Lori K. Brown
Baltimore, MD
410-523-2773

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