Hi Folks,

Yesterday afternoon (2/6), Elaine and I took a quick jaunt down to Ft.
McHenry to check out the waterfowl.  There wasn't a lot, but the highlights
were an immature white-phased SNOW GOOSE among a hundred or so Canadas on
the grass near the fortifications, and the female BLACK SCOTER, previously
reported.  I thought the scoter would be tough to find, but not so.  The
only ducks out on the open water besides the scoter were a scattering of
Buffleheads and a single hen Red-breasted Merganser.  There were also the
usual 20 American Wigeons on the grass at the northeastern part of the park.

Today (2/7), with schools closed, we did a short afternoon expedition to Ft.
Armistead (under the Key Bridge) where the collection of waterfowl was very
disappointing, amounting to a pair of Canvasbacks, a Greater Scaup, and a
dozen Lesser Scaup, with the usual Buffleheads and Mallards, all in
Baltimore waters.

From there we visited Southwest Area Park (Balt. Co.), where all is frozen,
except a small channel of water where there is usually a lot of water; we
saw the following:

Bald Eagle--one on the nest along Delaware Ave., outside the park
Cooper's Hawk--1
Red-tailed Hawk--3 circling high overhead
YB Sapsucker--1 just outside the park at corner of New York Ave. and
Baltimore St.
Am. Crow--dozens
Fox Sparrow--1 along road to tennis courts
Song Sparrow--2
WT Sparrow--15
DE Junco--2
N. Cardinal--5

Today was not the epitomy of birding excitement.

Stan Arnold
Glen Burnie