Hi Folks,

While most people have sense enough to come in out of the rain, Elaine and I spent nearly two hours outside this afternoon, amid intermittent showers, transplanting a number of trees, shrubs, and grass plugs in our suburban Ferndale (AA Co.) yard.  The birds were surprisingly active, and coming to our feeders were the first CHIPPING SPARROWs (2) of the season.  Our trees hosted at least half a dozen very vocal Golden-crowned Kinglets (here for the past two weeks), along with at least one Ruby-crown.  Our two Red-breasted Nuthatches were vocal and active at the feeders much of the day.

The big surprise, however, was the overflight of several large flocks of geese.  Two flocks of Canadas went over between 5 and 6 p.m., and then shortly after 6 p.m. a real thrill for me--a flock of 62 SNOW GEESE flew noisily over the yard.  This was a new yard bird (#115) for me, but not for Elaine, as she had a flock of about 120 fly over around 3:30 p.m., before I had gotten home from work.

As county listers know, Snow Geese are pretty scarce in Baltimore County, and the same is true for northern AA Co.  This is the only time I've seen Snow Geese in AA Co. away from Sandy Point State Park.

Stan Arnold
Glen Burnie