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Subject:

Alpha Ridge Sparrows & Lanky Mystery Bird

From:

Steve Sanford

Reply-To:

Maryland Birds & Birding

Date:

Sat, 16 Oct 2004 19:25:28 -0400

On the way to Washington Monument State Park to not see hawks this morning
Paul Noell, Gail Frantz and I stopped by Alpha Ridge Park (How Co, Rt 99)
for 20 minutes. There we had the birding highlights of the day: an excellent
view of a Lincoln's Sparrow, and at least 5 immature White-crowned Sparrows,
as well as White-throats, Field Sparrows and Towhees. We would have done
better to have just stayed there and birded all morning.

On the way home, just north of the intersection of Rt 99 and Marriottsville
Rd, around 4:30, we saw a fairly distant lanky, floppy-winged wading-type
bird that seemed to be white with black wing-tips. We chased it up
Marriottsville Rd but could not relocate it. It seemed too long, lanky, and
low-slung to be a Great Blue Heron. When I perused flight profiles in Sibley
at home, I would say Wood Stork or Sandhill Crane were the closest matches.
However, the light WAS tricky with an approaching storm and light rain, and
the bird WAS pretty far away, so we couldn't necessarily rule out Great Blue
Heron. At any rate, keep your eyes out if you're in that vicinity, just in
case.

Washington Monument State Park was a wipe-out on hawks, but we did see some
Myrtle Warblers, a yellow Palm Warbler, some Juncos, and a Raven. The
foliage was nice, and watching the procession of storms from that vantage
point was pretty spectacular.

Steve Sanford
Randallstown MD (Baltimore County)