Hey Les:

What dedication! Good for you!

I'm sure you were also checking the flock for a Shiny Cowbird ... it's in 
the "top seven" on the Next MD Species "hit list."

Phil


At 18:50 01/05/2006, Les Roslund wrote:
>While out looking for the Harlequin and the White Pelicans of Dorchester
>County, I also got a chance to thoroughly study one of the huge blackbird
>flocks that the region is known to host.  This afternoon, at the
>intersection of Woods Road and Rte 16, a flock of about 30,000 birds was
>using one of the fields - feeding, bathing, and whatever.  They moved only a
>little as cars came by, then eventually all lifted up to perches in the
>nearby trees. Careful inspection showed two birds with white tail feathers
>(Common Grackles), but no evidence of any Yellow-headed Blackbird.  The
>flock was almost entirely Common Grackles - the sprinkling of others
>included about 1000 Starlings, 600 Cowbirds, and 300 Red-wings. (30,000
>could be a low estimate - there actually may have been twice that many!)

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Phil Davis      Davidsonville, Maryland     USA
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