Immediately after forwarding the post from VA-Bird this morning, in which 
two Virginia birders described seeing a Eurasian Collared-dove perched 
along a street north of Thurmont, Frederick County, I headed to the 
location in question.

I had some trouble finding Roddy Rd. as the early morning fog was thick and 
the road by which it is reached from the south is called Apple Church 
Rd.  From 9:30 a.m. on and off for the next three hours, I walked around 
and drove in this rather residential neighborhood.  There were lots of 
birds, including a few Mourning Doves, but no Collared-dove.  I later drove 
down Graceham Rd. south of Thurmont, where the Lapwing was seen often a 
week ago.  In several passes up and down that road, I saw in the wet area 
favored by the Lapwing  20 Horned Lark, 6 Killdeer, and a motionless 
Wilson's Snipe right at the edge of the road.  But no Lapwing.  And no 
birders, either.  A bit north of the wet area, I saw two American Kestrels 
and a female Northern Harrier. (For the day, I had 6-7 Kestrels, which is 
an encouragingly large number, by my recent experience.)

Along the stretch of Blacks Mill Rd. just west of Creagerstown, where the 
Lapwing had also been seen on occasion, there was nothing.  Just a little 
farther west on Blacks Mill, there were four drake Hooded Mergansers in a 
mostly frozen pond, with Canada Geese.

Before I left the Thurmont area for home at about 2:30 p.m., I had run into 
a number of MD birders, including Bill Wendell, Stan Arnold, and Harvey & 
Marian Mudd.  At that time, anyway, none had seen the Collared-dove.  A 
number of the houses along Roddy Rd. have active bird feeders, but none 
attracted any doves during the time I watched them.  The neighborhood is a 
quiet one, with a twisty road and few safe places to park.

I trust others will have better luck than I did finding the 
Collared-dove.  Norm Saunders informed me that the MD/DC Records Committee 
currently has three sightings of this species in MD under review -- one 
each in Cecil, Worcester, and Montgomery Counties, all since the beginning 
of 2002.  It's only a matter of time before this species becomes a trash 
bird in the state, folks!

In the meantime, though, I'll be among the chasers.

Mike Bowen
Montgomery Bird Club

D. H. Michael Bowen (Mike)
8609 Ewing Drive
Bethesda MD 20817-3845
Tel/Fax: (301) 530-5764
e-mail: