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Subject:

Catching Up - Charles County Birds

From:

"George M. Jett"

Reply-To:

Maryland Birds & Birding

Date:

Mon, 13 Sep 2004 08:06:54 -0400

Folks

No new county year birds since last Sunday with the Yellow-bellied Flycatcher - YBFL (#212 and hoping).  I did find another YBFL on Mill Run Road on Friday, September 10.  The only other notable species this week were two Black-bellied Plover in a dirt field along Rt. 231 near Benedict on September 9.  Shorebirds in Charles this season have been nearly non-existent.  I did have four Least Sandpipers at the turf farm on Rt. 228 with about 15 Killdeer on 9/11.

A few warblers were found during the week.  Warblers seen in various locations were:  Northern Parula (most locations), Yellow (Allen's Fresh - 9/7), Magnolia (Allen's Fresh, Bryan's Road), Pine, Prairie (Allen's Fresh (9/10), Rt. 228 mitigation area (9/11)), Black & White (several locations including the house), American Redstart (house 9/9), Ovenbird (Chapel Point S.P. - 9/7), and Yellow-breasted Chat (Allen' s Fresh - 9/7). 

Other noted observations this week include on September 10 I had three wigeons (probably American Wigeon) flying ahead of a Bald Eagle at Allen's Fresh.  On the same trip a Northern Bobwhite was singing along the road into the boat launch.  On September 7 I found a migrant House Wren at Allen's Fresh.  Locally, most of the nesting Blue Jays have moved south.  The northern migrants have not arrived, so the split peanut consumption is down to about 10 percent.

Tonight I had a huge accipiter hunting in the back yard.  I did not see it well enough to get it to species but the brief look I had made me wonder if it was a immature Goshawk.  I put it down as a female Cooper's. The brief view of the face, size, and tail pattern just did not look right.  Other yard birds today included a single Rock Pigeon, and one each male Black-throated Blue and Black & White Warblers.  Good numbers of Scarlet Tanagers have been around for the past four days - as many as a dozen birds.  This week one each Great Horned and Barred Owl sing near the house.  A Common Nighthawk flew over on September 8, and a Song Sparrow was found yesterday along the Mattawomen Creek on Rt. 228 for number 108 for September in the county.

What will today bring?

George