Sean and others,

Fair Hill NRMA is currently under review as a potential Important Bird Area so any major change in land use is a concern. A nomination for this site was originally submitted by Paul Bystrak and the data Paul included point toward likely IBA status. However, in discussions of our IBA Technical Review Committee there has been uncertainty as to whether some of the grassland birds mentioned on the nomination form still breed regularly at the site. Can you or other birders that know the site well provide recent (last 5 years) data that will enable our Committee to complete the review for Fair Hill? 

The pertinent species of conservation priority at Fair Hill include:
Upland Sandpiper - regularly occurring migrant? How many are usually present?
Short-eared Owl - does it breed regularly in the Marland part of the site?
Cerulean Warbler - how many pairs usually breed?
Henslow's Sparrow - regularly breeds? how many pairs?
Blue-winged Warbler - regularly breeds? how many pairs?
Prairie warbler - regularly breeds? how many pairs?
Kentucky Warbler - regularly breeds? how many pairs?
Louisiana Waterthrush - regularly breeds? how many pairs?
Worm-eating Warbler - regularly breeds? how many pairs?

Grassland birds - which grassland specialists regularly breed at the site?
Forest Interior Dwelling Species (FIDS) - which FIDS regularly breed at the site?

I can provide species lists of all the grassland specialists and FIDS in Maryland if you need these. Please send any data to me at the address below. Thanks.

The IBA Technical Review Committee is currently revising the list of Conservation Priority species for the IBA criteria in Maryland and DC. We are setting specific threshold numbers of individuals/breeding pairs for each of these species. As soon as this revised list is ready I will make it available on Audubon Maryland-DC's IBA website (currently being updated) and let the MDOsprey list know. 

I took a look at the Save Fair Hill website and it incorrectly stated that Fair Hill is an IBA of National Significance. It is quite likely an IBA of statewide significance and it may be of national significance - we won't know until we've completed the review and it will depend on the populations of birds of conservation priority at the site. If anyone goes to the public meeting about the site on Monday please be aware that Fair Hill has not yet been recognized as an IBA - it won't help the conservation cause at the site to overstate the case. Hopefully we can complete the review as soon as possible.

Thanks! 

Dave Curson

David Curson, PhD
Director of Bird Conservation,
Audubon MD-DC,
2437 Eastern Avenue,
Baltimore  MD  21224
Tel: (410) 558 2473
E-mail: