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Subject:

Co. Moorhens & Bitterns (SWAP); This'n'That

From:

Stan Arnold

Reply-To:

Stan Arnold

Date:

Sun, 21 May 2006 22:07:55 -0400

Hi Folks,

A variety of things I'm putting into this post.  They are:

1.  COMMON MOORHENS & LEAST BITTERNS at SW Area Park (Balt. Co.) this week
2.  DEMISE OF LEAST TERNS in Halethorpe Area?
3.  OWL IN A BASKET; DUCK IN A TREE?
4.  BROWN CREEPER NEST
5.  YARD BIRDS

1.    Following Joel Martin's post of COMMON MOORHEN at Southwest Area Park
two or so weeks ago, Charlie Kucera visited the place several times in the
last ten days, and found a PAIR of moorhens on Thursday, 11 May.  The pair
has been seen as recently as Tue., 16 May, but not since.  Elaine and I
visited this morning (5/21) but did not find them.  Since they are now in
safe dates for the atlas, I encourage anyone visiting the park to report
them to MDOsprey.  Also, on Tue., 16 May Charlie noticed a pair of small
herons at SWAP (on the left, where the road to the boat ramp crosses the
water), and he realized they were too small to be Green Herons.  When he
told me this on the phone, I suspected they were LEAST BITTERNs, as Elaine
and I had seen a pair there two years ago.  He sent me a photo that he took,
and indeed that is what they were.  When Elaine and I visited SWAP this
morning, we saw 15 SPOTTED SANDPIPERs, 6 LEAST SANDPIPERs, and a LEAST TERN.

2.    Brian Sykes was bemoaning the fact that the Least Terns had not
returned to the big Halethorpe Pond this Spring, for the first time in 7 or
8 years, and had an interesting theory as to why.  Anyone who frequently
travels the southern part of Baltimore's beltway, I-695, has probably
noticed that the old Carling Brewery, a landmark for decades, has been
razed.  Sykes offered the theory that the brewery (about 1/2 mile from the
pond) had the flat roof where the terns nested.  It is certainly plausible,
but would be sad if true, since all evidence has been destroyed.

3.    A couple of intersting bird behavior tidbits:  (1) a couple of weeks
ago while Elaine and I were atlasing in Talbot Co., we were walking around
the quaint little town of Claiborne, and as we approached a B&B on the main
road, I noticed an owl perched on the front porch, peering down at one of
the hanging baskets.  As we got closer to the house, the owl flew over and
landed in the hanging basket, sat there for a good part of minute, and then
flew to an evergreen tree in the front yard, where it perched in plain view
about ten feet off the ground and began trilling.  It was a screech owl,
which at first I thought was a pet, but after it landed in the tree, it
seemed perfectly normal, though terribly oblivious to our presence.  This
was Elaine's best look at a screech owl yet, particularly since there was
still plenty of daylight.
    (2)   Brian Sykes reports that a hen Mallard is nesting in the cavity of
a tree near the Halethorpe Pond.  The cavity is about 14 feet off the
ground!  Maybe it hung out with the wood ducks a bit too much.

4.    Brian Sykes called me yesterday to report that he has removed the
Brown Creeper nest from the tree near the Halethorpe Pond.  The nest had had
seven eggs in it.  On Sat., 13 May, he watched three of the youngsters
emerge from the crevice in the tree, as I announced on a previous post, and
I believe saw the fourth emerge the following day.  When he examined the
nest, he found the remains of the other three youngsters, compressed against
the bottom of the nest.  He is freezing the nest to eliminate parasites, but
is not yet sure of its final disposition.

5.    It's been a so-so week in the yard, as far as birds go, until today,
which has been marvelous, perhaps related to the windy weather (as well as
the season).  Elaine and I have been working and planting like fiends,
trying to shape our almost-urban acre into the semblance of a wildlife
sanctuary.  We have years of work ahead of us.  Anyway, we are out in the
yard during most of the daylight hours after work, and on weekends, when not
tied up with other committments.  Some of the birds during the past week or
so:

5/14--GREEN HERON--low flyover, heading west; yard bird #100; yard year bird
#84
5/14--N. PARULA--heard singing in afternoon, after which was able to get
some good views; year bird #85
5/14-5/21--AM. REDSTART--one or more have been around all week; had two this
a.m. (5/21)
5/14-5/21--BLACKPOLL WARBLER--these are by far the most common migrant in
our yard.  We've been hearing them all week long--morning, noon, and
evening.  Today while driving around the BWI hotel district I heard
ts-ts-ts-ts all over the place; driving around Ferndale, ts-ts-ts-ts; then
at home the same.  They are everywhere!
5/21--MALLARD--we've had three mallards flying over our house daily for the
past several weeks.  This afternoon while working in the yard I hear a quack
quack quack quack, and I come over to the front yard, and there's a hen
mallard on our lawn.  Shortly, the drake comes waddling up the driveway.
The two ducks hung around for 10 or 15 minutes before flying off.  I guess I
get to P-code Mallard for my yard atlas list, and we haven't even put in our
pond yet!
5/21--COOPER'S HAWK--while almost ready to get my scope fixed on a Blackpoll
Warbler in one of our trees (Elaine still hasn't gotten a good look yet), a
bunch of grackles in the tree become highly agitated, and then suddenly
burst out of the tree.  The next thing we see is a Cooper's Hawk making a
high speed, low-level pass right over our garden with about 15 grackles in
tow.  Not much escapes these observant blackbirds.  We don't get crows in
our yard anymore because the grackles won't let them near.  Wish they would
do the same with the starlings.
5/21--COMMON YELLOWTHROAT--#86 for the year; we heard an unusual song coming
from one of our Dogwoods just outside the front door.  Turned out to be a
male yellowthroat; must have been a young male that hasn't quite learned how
to witchity yet.
5/21--E. WOOD-PEWEE--yard bird #101, #87 for year; first seen in our dead
snag, then heard many times throughout the morning
5/21--CANADA WARBLER--#88 for year; at first heard in the a.m., and I called
it a Canada by voice, but with an element of doubt, as Magnolias can really
fool me at times, and I don't get to hear Canadas very often.  However, all
doubt was removed in the early afternoon when Elaine spotted a bird with a
yellow throat and necklace, and we ended up getting great views, with the
eye-ring clinching the identity. It was still hanging around in the evening,
picking bugs out of our Dogwood tree.  It seems unusual to me that Canada
Warblers are fairly regular migrants through our yard, while more common
warblers, such as Hooded, have yet to make their first appearance (at least
while we're around).

Stan Arnold
Glen Burnie