I have been following this thread with interest because Sugarloaf is one of those sites that may well qualify as an Important Bird Area....but we don't have enough data to know. Would anyone (Tim, Jerry, Laura) be able to visit the site this summer to find out? 

Just 2 or 3 mornings of Bird Blitz surveys (and one evening...whips!) would probably provide the data we need. Here are the likely target (at-risk) bird species and their Maryland-DC IBA thresholds - if the regularly occurring population of any of these species exceeds the threshold the site qualifies as an IBA. Could also be worth including adjacent Monacacy NRMA if any at-risk species live there too. You can see all the IBA criteria for site selection and get Bird Blitz materials from the Maryland-DC IBA website http://www.audubonmddc.org/SciCon_IBAs.html 

At-risk species             Threshold population
Whip-poor-will               10 pairs
Red-headed woodpecker        10 pairs
Wood Thrush                  160 pairs
(Cerulean Warbler?)          10 pairs
Worm-eating Warbler          20 pairs
Louisiana Waterthrush        20 pairs
Kentucky warbler             30 pairs

David Smith of Frederick tells me that Whip-poor-wills do nest at Sugarloaf. Are there more than 10 pairs? The beginning of June when the moon is full, would be the ideal time for an evening survey!

Quite a few people will be doing Bird Blitz around the state this summer. It's ideal for those who want to contribute to bird conservation in Maryland and DC but are not able to do Atlas minroutes (there are plenty of miniroutes that need completing this summer so if you are able to do one, this takes priority over Bird Blitz, as it is important to complete the entire set of minoroutes this year). If anyone is interested in doing Bird Blitz surveys at Sugarloaf and has any questions about methodology, please contact me.

Dave

David Curson, PhD
Director of Bird Conservation,
Audubon MD-DC,
2437 Eastern Avenue,
Baltimore  MD  21224
Tel: (410) 558 2473
E-mail: 



-----Original Message-----
From: Maryland Birds & Birding [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On
Behalf Of Tim Boucher
Sent: Sunday, April 29, 2007 12:32 PM
To: 
Subject: [MDOSPREY] Sugarloaf Sunday 29 April


There are times when it is absolutely great to be wrong, and this morning
was one of those times....because....I had SIX Worm-eating Warblers up on
Sugarloaf this morning. Three seen and heard, three heard. The paper by Russ
Greenberg showed the importance of leaf litter and there is leaf litter in
abundance up there. So maybe understory cover doesn't matter that much. 

Overall, it was a birdy morning in terms of number of species but not in
number of individuals, except for Great Crested Flycatchers. Loads of those
guys! 

The birds are patchily distributed. Along the 7 miles of the white and blue
trails, most areas are totally silent or have only the resident stuff. But
then you hit a bird party - Black-throated Green, Black-throated Blue, Oven
Bird, 
Scarlet Tanager, Black-and-White Warbler, Northern Parula, American
Redstart, Louisiana Waterthrush, Wood Thrush. 

I wish there was some way to combine hiking for health (e.g. need to keep
heart rate up) and birding. I deliberately do NOT take nocs so I won't be
tempted, and I console myself by saying that I am practicing birding by ear,
which is something I really couldn't do at all until a couple of years ago,
when I forced myself to go out without nocs. 

Ellen Paul
Chevy Chase, MD