Hi Folks,

On Monday evening (3/27) I had a very excited call on the answering machine
from Brian Sykes, who had spent a couple hours that day watching and
photographing a pair of Brown Creepers building a nest near the edge of the
Patapsco River, behind the large Halethorpe Farms Pond (Pond #5) in
Baltimore Co.  This afternoon (3/29), Charlie Kucera, Elaine and I
accompanied Sykes to the nest site to have a look.  The nest sits 6 feet off
the ground where some bark overhangs a bark-less area of a dead or dying
Tulip Poplar Tree.  We did not have to approach the nest too closely, as
many of the sticks and part of the feathery lining were visible hanging
around the fringes of the bark, and we could see things fairly well through
our binoculars.  Sykes said the two birds were present this morning, and had
added a significant amount to the nest during the course of the day today.

About three years ago, I had seen a Brown Creeper in the same vicinity
probing around some bark that was pulled away from a tree, as if to be
inspecting a nest site.  I returned to the area a few times, but nothing
resulted of this sighting, perhaps in part due to significant floods that
greatly altered the landscape in the floodplain of the Patapsco River that
year.

I checked the atlas book from the 1980s to see that only 18 blocks in the
entire state had confirmation of Brown Creeper during the atlas period, and
none was in Baltimore Co.  This nest is in the Relay NE atlas block.

Some of the birds seen in and around the pond during our outing included:

Wood Duck--3
Gadwall--4
Hooded Merganser--pair
Pied-billed Grebe--1
Great Egret--1
Osprey--1
Bald Eagle--the nesting pair flew by and then returned to the nest
Am. Coot--1
Barred Owl--1 called spontaneously around 4:30 p.m.
YB Sapsucker--1 juvenile
Pileated Woodpecker--male perched at the opening of nest hole; during the
course of this month, Sykes has watched the pair of birds excavate this
hole, and has seen the female inside on several occasions.  The male appears
 unusual in that he has a large brown patch that contrasts with the black
color on the right wing.

Sykes also reports these other interesting birds seen either this morning or
yesterday:  E. Phoebe (has been building a nest for several days), Barn
Swallow, House Wren, Lincoln's Sparrow, and Rusty Blackbird (have been
present all winter).

After our walk as we were chatting with Sykes in his front yard (in
Halethorpe, about a mile from the pond), a flock of 32 Tundra Swans flew
over.

Back in our own yard in Ferndale, AA Co., Elaine spotted our first of the
year Chipping Sparrow at the feeders yesterday, and at least one of our two
Red-breasted Nuthatches continues coming to the suet.  We've been seeing
Great Blue Herons fly over for the past several days, and a pair of Carolina
Chickadees has completed a nest in one of our nest boxes, but have not yet
laid any eggs.

Stan Arnold
Glen Burnie