Hi Everyone,

I had a very exciting find late Saturday (7/10) afternoon while atlasing in
my Washington County block. As I walked a gravel road on South Mountain,
the crunching of my footsteps mingled with the woodland noises I'd heard
since 6am -- crunch, crunch -- piz-zaaa! -- crunch, crunch -- teacher,
teacher, teacher -- crunch, crunch, crunch -- tee teeeeeeeee! -- huh? I
froze, my mind racing to place it. Just as I realized what it was and
practically gasped, the BROAD-WINGED HAWK flew from the woods and landed
about 30 yards beyond the other side of the road. And then it just kept
calling. I know how uncommon a Maryland nesting bird the Broad-winged Hawk
has become, so I found myself fooling around with my cell phone's voice
memo feature trying to record the calls. After several minutes of recording
the peaceful sounds of the stream, the bird obligingly flew right into
passable photo range (links below). I took many photos--good for ID, but
not for framing--and was delighted when another bird began calling back to
it. I scanned around for a nest, but didn't want to disturb them by
crashing around in the woods. I watched and listened for over 20 minutes,
and they were still calling as I moved on. It was by far the best look I've
ever had at the birds, which until today I'd only seen in flight during
migration. I'll return and keep tabs on them, and keep my fingers crossed
for the confirm...

I'm curious to know the number of blocks in which they've been found so far
during this Atlas. I understand the decline (understatement?) in Maryland
nesters to be extreme.

Some other interesting finds:

Along a weedy creek bed, I saw a female INDIGO BUNTING with the ugliest
child you've ever seen! I think I'd start to wonder once my kid was almost
three times my size! It was, of course, a BROWN-HEADED COWBIRD. And this
bird wasn't starving - it was plump. Well, that was one way to confirm two
obvious breeding birds, and it's certainly an interesting thing to see!

The thistle has almost all turned to down, and it's easy pickings for
confirming nest-building AMERICAN GOLDFINCHes. Monarchs are also starting
to appear in some numbers.

A NORTHERN MOCKINGBIRD first chastised me, then as I moved on, grabbed an
insect and returned to feed its young in the shrubs.

A chattering family of 4 EASTERN KINGBIRDs exploded from the forest edge,
the young being fed mid-air.

YELLOW-BILLED CUCKOOs were still quite common and vocal throughout the block.

A family of six NORTHERN FLICKERs foraged on the shoulder of a country road.

The usually very vocal RED-BELLIED WOODPECKERs are in stealth mode as they
tend their nests. I saw three or four, but didn't hear one call all day.

Shortly after dark, I saw the first coyote I've ever seen in Maryland.

Atlasing is just too much fun right now :)

Here are the Broad-winged Hawk photos:

Decent-viewing size (300 KB):
http://www.billhubick.com/images/broad_winged_hawk.jpg

Full image (2.55 MB):
http://www.billhubick.com/images/broad_winged_hawk_full.jpg

Enjoy the rest of the weekend!

Bill Hubick
bill_hubick - at - yahoo.com
Linthicum, Maryland