Hi all,
I got out early to Blue Mash this morning before the planned field trip
from MBC. My first good find was a singing Pine Warbler in the trees along the
entrance road. My first thought was a female Black-throated Green but then it
began to trill, quite beautifully. A nice surprise and #170 for my park
list. The big pond held 40+ DC Cormorants, 5 Great Blue Herons, buffleheads, a
nice pair of Wood Ducks, and Killdeer. A single Caspian Tern flew over and back
and forth between ponds.
A single Swamp Sparrow was lurking in the fenceline area, as were
Yellow-rumps and Palm Warblers. A Carolina Wren was seen and I saw my FOY House Wren
too.
As I approached the small pond I began watching a swallow which was
"dipping" in the water as it skimmed, and as I was trying to ID it, it flew off.
Looked like a N. Rough-winged (2 of which I later saw perched in a small tree
there). I was getting ready to leave back to the main trail when I happened to
glance over at the wet "slough" which feeds into the pond, and I noticed a slim
head and neck peering up at the sky; one of my most sought after birds for
this park finally showed up, right where expected. AMERICAN BITTERN (#171!). I
called a friend who was behind me and he joined me for great looks. Then I
called Mark England who was leading a Montgomery Bird Club field trip (moving
along slowly behind us) and told him where to look. Eventually word spread
and nearly everyone at Blue Mash today enjoyed excellent looks at quite close
range of this hard to spot bird.
Other nice finds included at least 3 Broad-winged Hawks, Sharp-shinned
Hawk, Cooper's Hawk, American Kestrel, Red-tailed and Red-shouldered Hawks,
Chimney Swifts, Osprey, Savannah, Song, White-throated, (White-crowned seen by
others), Chipping, Field Sparrows, Juncos, and lots of towhees, Brown Thrashers
everywhere, BG Gnatcatchers, RC Kinglets, lots of Flickers, a lone EASTEN
MEADOWLARK, YR Warblers, Phoebes, lots of bluebirds and Tree Swallows, Barn
Swallos, etc.
I had about 59 species, with others sighting bring the total to over 60. A
very pleasant morning, with 2 new species for my park list!
Rick Sussman
Ashton,MD
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