Hi Folks,

Elaine and I spent much of the day covering northern Anne Arundel Co. for the annual midwinter count.  Despite the chilly, and sometimes blustery conditions, it was a marvelous count, with a good number of waterfowl.  The unmitigated highlight for us was finding the previously reported Pied Crow in the town of Brooklyn (northernmost AA Co., just south of Baltimore City), and actually being able to digiscope it with some fairly good results.  Since I don't have a website, Charlie Kucera has been kind enough to post our photos on his "Patapsco Watershed" website.  To see the photos, click on the following, and click on the appropriate entry under the "NEW" heading on the left.

http://mysite.verizon.net/cakarbutus/index.htm

While you're visiting the website, take a look at the Brown Creeper nesting documentation from last Spring, and also feel free to register your thoughts on the "Mystery bird" with me.

The Pied Crow is a native of sub-saharan Africa, and I use to have them in my yard when I worked out of the US Embassy in Kinshasa, Zaire 16 years ago.  They are kept as pets and in bird collections, and it appears virtually certain that the Maryland bird is an escapee or the like.

For the bird count, most of the (Patapsco) ponds were frozen, but both ponds #10 and 11 had small open areas with some concentrations of fowl.  On pond #11, a Red Fox stood on the ice, likely eyeing the hundreds of ducks as a potential meal, but the birds knew that they were safe in the water.  I tried to digiscope the fox, but it trotted away when it became aware of my interest.

Our tally for the count is as follows:

Canada Goose--41
Wood Duck--2 drakes (Pond 10)
Gadwall--13 (Ponds 10&11)
Am. Black Duck--2 (Pond 10)
Mallard--173
Green-winge Teal--22 (Pond 11)
Canvasback--5 (from Ft. Armistead)
L. Scaup--2 (ditto)
G. Scaup--1 (ditto)
Bufflehead--6
Co. Goldeneye--4 (Curtis Creek)
Hooded Merganser--pair (ditto)
Ruddy Duck--4 (from Ft. Armistead)
Pied-billed Grebe--1 (Curtis Creek)
DC Cormorant--3 (Ft. Armistead & Curtis Creek)
Great Cormorant--2    (ditto)
GB Heron--3
T. Vulture--3
Bald Eagle--7
Sharp-shinned Hawk--1
Cooper's Hawk--2
Red-tailed Hawk--1
Am. Coot--3 (Curtis Creek)
Killdeer--4 (Pond 11)
Ring-billed Gull--535
Herring Gull--5
Great Black-backed Gull--10
Rock Pigeon--661
Mo. Dove--84
B. Kingfisher--1
Red-bellied Woodpecker--5
Downy Woodpecker--11
N. Flicker--2
Blue Jay--7
Am. Crow--93
Fish Crow--7
PIED CROW--1
C. Chickadee--10
T. Titmouse--7
WB Nuthatch--3
Brown Creeper--1
Car. Wren--15
Am. Robin--22
N. Mocker--5
Eur. starling--470
YR Warbler--1
E. Towhee--3
Fox Sparrow--1
Song Sparrow--6
WT Sparrow--116
DE Junco--59
N. Cardinal--50
RW Blackbird--24
Co. Grackle--154
BH Cowbird--8
House Finch--12
Am. Goldfinch--22
House Sparrow--30

It was a fun day for us, because there were birds to be found, and the weather wasn't nearly as bad as the forecasts suggested.

Stan Arnold
Glen Burnie