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Subject:

May Count in s. PG - hits and misses

From:

"Frederick W. Fallon"

Reply-To:

Maryland Birds & Birding

Date:

Sun, 9 May 2004 21:15:22 -0400

For the May Count on Sat we visited Merkle and the several MNCPPC and
DNR properties south. Good finds included lingering Savannahs and
White-crowns at Milltown Ldg and Woodcock displaying at Aquasco. At
Merkle, where Fred Shaffer had reported Black-necked Stilts and Glossy
Ibis the day before, the ibis remained but the stilts had gone. Joining
it at the pond were Dunlin and Pectoral Sandp's. While Grasshopper Sp's
were also reported Friday, none were present on Sat., and so severe are
the mowing/cropping regimes at all the public lands this year that only
a single one was found in that whole vast area, and Bob-whites and
Whip's have totally disappeared. On the other hand, 3 Meadowlarks and
~50 Bobolinks were at Merkle.

Remarkable misses included all owls (despite 2 hrs owling), Downy(!) and
Hairy Wp's, Flicker, House Wren, Kentucky W, and Blue Grosbeak(!).  Our
total species count was 100, our lowest ever.

One purpose of the May Count is to chart the northward progress of
migration, so it is the obvious transients that are of special interest.
Yet all day, we saw only 3 - Swainson's Thrush, Blackpoll, and Black-thr
Blue.  By contrast, in our suburban yard this AM we had 5 - Ruby-crown,
Black-thr Green, Magnolia, Blackpoll, Rose-br Grosbeak. With them were
Red-eyed V, Gr Crested Flyc, Yello W, Redstart, Myrtles, Scarlet T, and
2 very out-of-place Indigo Buntings. These, tho' MD breeders, were of
course in transit also -as was a late White-thr Sp.

Fred and Jane Fallon
Bowie


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