I didn't know whether to expect too many or too few birders for the BBC's
trip to Halethorpe Ponds and Mears Farm areas of Patapsco Valley State Park on
Sunday. But a good group of 9 turned out, including some familiar faces and some
relatively new birders. It's always rewarding to be out with people for whom
many birds are new. And although the day began with drizzle, it ended with
warm sunshine and a surprisingly good bird list. Everyone contributed to the
day's efforts. Most of the advertised species gave us great looks, even those for
which I let slip the word "guaranteed." We finished around 1:30 with 73
species, including 12 warblers, plus one exotic, and I think most of the best birds
were seen by everyone.

We started at the Halethorpe Ponds, where we quickly found many of our
targets including BLACK-CROWNED NIGHT-HERON, YELLOW-BILLED CUCKOO, WARBLING VIREO,
YELLOW WARBLER and both ORIOLES. Of course, it's not news that migrants have
been scarce, but as one person said, there were plenty of migrants -- just all
one species! Yes, there were dozens of BLACKPOLLS, but we also found singles of
MAGNOLIA, BLACK-THROATED BLUE and both WATERTHRUSHES. The most interesting
find at Halethorpe was a female RINGED TEAL, no doubt an escape from somewhere.
From a distance it appeared as a teal-sized bird that didn't any familiar
species. So seven of us sneaked through the woods for a good close look. The
scalloped buffy plumage, white wing patch and pink feet made it clear that this was
an exotic; then it finally registered that I had once seen this bird in a
private collection. Before I had the presence of mind to look for a band, it
flew.

From there we drove up to the Mears Farm area in Catonsville. Barely out of
the cars we encountered about 15 BOBOLINKS in the tall grass, a hoped-for but
not promised species. We went on to find PRAIRIE WARBLER, CHAT, and a pair of
BLUE GROSBEAK, all well-seen. But perhaps the best bird of the day was a
heard-only BLACK-BILLED CUCKOO, whose cu-cu-cu-cu notes were amazingly detected by
Steve "Sonic" Sanford from 1/4 mile away, across Rolling Road, through the din
of traffic and cicadas. We marched across the busy road to the edge of a
residence where the calls seemed to be emanating from a group of large shade trees.
The curious and gracious owner came out and invited us into her yard for a
better look, but the bird stopped calling and we never saw it. Another, or
perhaps the same bird, was heard later on the farm property.

The complete list:

DC Cormorant - 3
Great Blue Heron - 2
Great Egret - 3 flyovers
Green Heron - 3
BLACK-CROWNED NIGHT HERON - 3 adults
Black Vulture - 1
Turkey Vulture - 5
Canada Goose - 2
Mallard - 5
RINGED TEAL - 1 female; exotic
Red-shouldered Hawk - 4
Killdeer - 2
Spotted Sandpiper - 4
Ring-billed Gull - 1
Herring Gull - 1
Rock Pigeon - 4
Mourning Dove - 12
BLACK-BILLED CUCKOO - 1-2, heard only
Yellow-billed Cuckoo - 9
Chimney Swift - 7
Red-bellied Woodpecker - 4
Downy Woodpecker - 2
N Flicker - 1
Eastern Wood-Pewee - 1
Acadian Flycatcher - 5
Eastern Phoebe - 1
Eastern Kingbird - 6
White-eyed Vireo - 3
WARBLING VIREO - 5
Red-eyed Vireo - 12
Blue Jay - 2
crow sp. - 5
Tree Swallow - 7
N. Rough-winged Swallow - 4
Barn Swallow - 9
C. Chickadee - 2
T. Titmouse - 1
Carolina Wren - 3
House Wren - 1
BG Gnatcatcher - 6
Eastern Bluebird - 5
American Robin - 1
Gray Catbird - 4
N. Mockingbird - 5
Brown Thrasher - 1
E. Starling - ~20
Cedar Waxwing - ~30
NORTHERN PARULA - 1
YELLOW WARBLER - 9
MAGNOLIA WARBLER - 1
BLACK-THROATED BLUE WARBLER - 1
YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLER - 1
PRAIRIE WARBLER - 5
BLACKPOLL WARBLER - ~25
AMERICAN REDSTART - 6
N. WATERTHRUSH - 1
L. WATERTHRUSH - 1
COMMON YELLOWTHROAT - 6
YELLOW-BREASTED CHAT - 5
Scarlet Tanager - 1
Eastern Towhee - 5
Chipping Sparrow - 3
Song Sparrow - 1
Northern Cardinal - 8
BLUE GROSBEAK - 2
Indigo Bunting - ~15
BOBOLINK - 15
Red-winged Blackbird - ~20
C. Grackle - ~15
Brown-headed Cowbird - 4
ORCHARD ORIOLE - 2
BALTIMORE ORIOLE - 2
American Goldfinch - 6
House Sparrow - 2

Joel Martin
Catonsville, MD