Hi all,
Yesterday I was running some errands prior to my wife's long-awaited arrival from San Francisco today, and while I was walking to the car after returning some books to the library, I heard some birds in the shrubs. Even though I was without my binoculars, I just had to look. While at the Cockeysville Library, I saw and heard a Northern Cardinal, a Fish Crow, a Blue Jay, a small flock of White-throated Sparrows foraging on the ground, and a White-breasted Nuthatch, making his way down a tree. My next stop was the post office to pick up a package from my wife, and on the way, I decided that after I finished my errands and had lunch, I would go and find the Paper Mill Road marsh.
I left after lunch, around 1:30 and drove up Paper Mill Road, and went past the NCR trail, over the bridge and down the hill to the pull off place on the left. While crossing the bridge, I thought that I saw a big bird. I tried to find a trail in the woods where I was, but a voice in my head told me to go back and look for this big bird. So, I got in my car and drove up the hill toward the bridge.
I turned around and parked in the pull off just after the bridge and I looked toward the reservoir. Sure enough, there was a beautiful BALD EAGLE perched in a tree. Just as I was about to get out of my car, a truck crossed the bridge and the eagle flew off.
I then got out of the car and crossed Paper Mill Rd. heading north. I stepped over the railing and made my way down towards the woods. Off to my left in the water were several Hooded Mergansers (there were more later), at least three of which were males, a passover American Crow and some Mallards and American Wigeons, also in the water. I made it into the woods, where I pished and up popped a flock of White-throats and some Dark-eyed Juncos. I continued along the water's edge and looked out at the water. I saw a lone Canada Goose and some other ducks which I could not make out. I continued eastward, and I saw two Double-crested Cormorants fly by. I also heard the rattle of a Belted Kingfisher. I finally got to a point (a small beach) where I could ID what was on the water: Wood Ducks and more mallards.
I finally made my way back to my car, where I saw a Red-bellied Woodpecker, as well as another birder getting out of his truck, parked in the pull off to the northwwest of me. I crossed the bridge toward him, but by the time I got there, he was in his truck. I saw more mallards, and a pair of kingfishers perched in a tree. I walked back to the car and headed west, off to the NCR trail.
Once there, I crossed the road, and went into the woods. I didn;t see too much, only a few robins and a Red-bellied Woodpecker, until I got to the trail. There, I had Tufted Titmice, Carolina Chickadees, more White-throated Sparrows, a Ruby-crowned Kinglet, a Hairy Woopecker, and a real surprise, a YELLOW-BELLIED SAPSUCKER. At first I thought it was a Hairy, as he had a long bill and was fairly large, but when I saw the red under his bill on his throat and the large white patch on his wing, I knew it wasn't a Hairy Woodpecker. The last Yellow-bellied we saw was a "stray" in Utah, so that was a pleasant surprise and a new year bird for me. At one point, I pished a few times and a flock of Titmice and Chickadees came in closer. One Tuftie came within eight feet of me, looked at me as if to say, "Oh, it's just you..." and then took off and went about Tufted Titmouse business.
On the way back to the car (it was now well after 4 pm), I saw two Chickadees playing in the water, and I heard a bubbling Winter Wren. As I was waiting to cross Paper Mill Road, I could have sworn I saw a kingbird sitting on the top of a tree. I thought "Eastern Kingbird?", but I figured they are probably gone by now. He had that kingbird shape (it reminded me of a Western Kingbird), and I thought "Gray Kingbird? No, don't go there..." . I left him as an unidentified perching bird and crossed the road back to the parking lot and my car.
Here's my list for the day:
Blue Jay
Fish Crow
Northern Cardinal
White-throated Sparrow
White-breasted Nuthatch
Ring-billed Gull
Turkey Vulture
Bald Eagle
American Crow
Mallard
Hooded Mergansers 8 (there were 14 more at the NCR trail)
Double-crested Cormorants
American Black Ducks
American Wigeon
Dark-eyed Junco
Belted Kingfisher
Canada Goose
Wood Ducks
Carolina Wren
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Rock Pigeon (perched on the side of the bridge)
Northern Mockingbird
Tufted Titmouse
American Robin
Carolina Chickadee
Hairy Woodpecker
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
European Starling
Winter Wren
The Yellow-bellied Sapsucker was my 240th bird of the year, but who's counting?
Good birding,
Richard
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