Hi all,
The "Sitting Ducks" put in a grueling 11 hours sitting on the dike at Black
Hill Regl Park today. We saw a total of 53 species plus 1 unidentifiable
peep (4 birds, all the same sp.). I arrived by 6:15 and shortly had about 20
early species. After 7 when Clive Harris and Jim Green arrived things
accelerated to about 40 sppecies in short order. After mid morning more folks arrived
and by mid-day we were up to the low 50's. Afternoon birding as usual was
slow, but we tallied our last species just about 5 when Jennifer Jowdy and I were
in the parking lot getting ready to leave and a flock of 6 House Finches
landed in a tree by the parking lot. I told Jennifer I was going back down to
the circle so we could count them but she insisted on doing it, as she arrived
to the sit late and hadn't added anything new. So she did, and I give her my
own personal "ATTA GIRL" award for best effort! Way to go Jennifer!!
Other nice finds were, in no particular order, Peregrine Falcon (new), 2
Forsters Terns (new), 2 Wood Thrushes (new), many N. Rough-winged Swallows
(new), a calling flyover Greater Yellowlegs (new), and what we think was a late
Tennessee Warbler (new, and our only warbler!). Other good things were 3 calling
Great Horned Owls very early (the first birds of the day), a single Solitary
Sandpiper which stayed all day, Cooper's, Sharp-shinned and Red-shouldered
Hawks, as well as Osprey.Very few songbirds though.
Big Misses include Red-tailed Hawk, Killdeer, Golden-crowned Kinglet, Bald
Eagle, Yellow-rumped Warbler, andYellow-bellied Sapsucker.
Weather was a factor in that the sky was very overcast and the light very
diffused and not conducive to identifying birds in flight, as they were mostly
in silhouette, especially the smaller flyovers. But on the good side, it did
not rain a drop. I think we had some of the unusal birds because of the heavy
rains which moved through the past 2 days. This was our second highest count;
2003 we had 55, and in 2004 we had 52, a followed by 45 in 2002.
Thanks to all the participants,
Rick Sussman
Big Sit compiler, Montgomery County |