Message:

[

Previous   Next

]

By Topic:

[

Previous   Next

]

Subject:

Montgomery county Big Sit

From:

Rick Sussman

Reply-To:

Date:

Sun, 9 Oct 2005 18:30:26 EDT

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