Message:

[

Previous   Next

]

By Topic:

[

Previous   Next

]

Subject:

Day Seven: Garrett, Allegany, Montgomery

From:

Ronald Gutberlet

Reply-To:

Ronald Gutberlet

Date:

Sat, 22 Mar 2008 03:09:18 -0400

Hi Everyone,

We dedicated this morning to MD's westernmost counties and then made it to Montgomery County for some nice birding in the day's remaining light.  "Highway birds" were much easier to come by today, perhaps as a result of the diminished winds, and we were able to augment our Washington and Frederick County lists a bit on the way back east.

GARRETT COUNTY

We started the day at Finzel Swamp--a favorite of many (suggested by Jim Brighton, J.B. Churchill, Matt Hafner, John Hubbell, and Bill Hubick).  I had been there twice before in the summer, but this was my first winter visit.  Carol had never visited Finzel before.  No surprise: we like it too!  There were a few ducks on the pond:

Wood Duck--14
Ring-necked Duck--3
Lesser Scaup--1

Most sparrows appeared to be Song, but we did see one Swamp Sparrow.  A liitle pishing between the two little wooden bridges brought up an American Tree Sparrow--a new MD bird for us!  The feeder at one of the houses (on the right when driving into Finzel Swamp) was active, yielding a Fox Sparrow, Black-capped Chickadees (2), and another American Tree Sparrow (seen on our way out).

Next we visited two small lakes (Piney Reservoir and Little Meadows Lake) that we'd read about in Kevin Graff's recent post on Western MD.  Most of Kevin's nice finds were still present, including 5 Tundra Swans near the dam at Piney Reservoir and the Red-throated Loon at Little Meadows Lake.  Waterfowl diversity was good at both locations.  A couple we met at Piney Reservoir mentioned that the swans had been present for about a week.

ALLEGANY COUNTY

All of the recent Golden Eagle reports attracted us to Dans Mountain WMA--Carol said that we'd be weenies if we passed up this location after all the good reports.  So up the hill we went...  Our thirty minutes at the top  (ok, so perhaps we didn't completely weenie-proof our reputations with this brief visit; it's the schedule I tell you...) gave us the chance to watch 7 Turkey Vultures, 1 Black Vulture, and the rapid passage of 1 female American Kestrel.  No Golden Eagle this time, but we'll look forward to future visits.  As we began to drive back down, Carol slammed on the brakes and pointed: a Ruffed Grouse standing right out on the road--another new species for the week and Carol's first for MD!  (Kevin Graff had reported one here a couple days ago).

Rocky Gap State Park yielded 5 Common Loons, a Ring-necked Duck, a Tree Swallow, a Black-capped Chickadee, and 2 Golden-crowned Kinglets.

We finished Allegany County with some nice woodland birds along the C&O Canal at Fifteen Mile Creek near Little Orleans.  A few highlights:

Yellow-bellied Sapsucker--1
Pileated Woodpecker--1
Eastern Phoebe--1
Brown Creeper--1
Cedar Waxwing--2

MONTGOMERY COUNTY

After a brief detour near Frederick for some dog food (don't ask...), we pulled into Montgomery County at about 6:15 pm.  Our destination was Hughes Hollow via Little Seneca Lake.  With our friends Rob and Wendy Olsson, we have participated in the Sugarloaf CBC the past two years.  Our territory is on both sides of Little Seneca Lake; and we stop to look at the ducks as we pass by, even though someone else is responsible for counting them.  There is just a bit of frustration involved in observing about 10 species that we can't add to our CBC tally--it felt good to count them all today!!  Some of the birds at Little Seneca Lake today (seen from Rt 121):

Common Merganser--14
Red-breasted Merganser--1
Ruddy Duck--5
Common Loon--2
Horned Grebe--8
Bald Eagle--1

We had our first visits to Hughes Hollow and Sycamore Landing this evening.  How many times have I said "wow!" this week?  Two more incredible locations to add to our "must revisit" list.  Thanks to Jim Brighton, Matt Hafner, John Hubbell, Bill Hubick, and Dave Powell for suggesting these spots.  And special thanks to Helen Patton who sent us a copy of A Birder's Guide to Montgomery County to help our cause.  This book provided very useful information about these locations.

Our late arrival at Hughes Hollow (7:05 pm) meant that today's visit was mostly about the ducks--no complaints here:

Wood Duck--10
American Wigeon--4
Mallard--4
Canvasback--1 male with head tucked
Redhead--4 (2 males, 2 females)
Ring-necked Duck--720! (probably more)
Bufflehead--2
Hooded Merganser--1

Before I counted the Ring-necked Ducks, I quickly scanned the whole group, looking for other species.  The two drake Redheads were near the front of the group, and their heads nearly glowed in the early evening light.  I saw them easily.  Male Buffleheads, with all of their white, always stand out in a group, and I spotted the Buffleheads too during my scan.  However, I did not see the Canvasback, the American Wigeons, or the Hooded Merganser until I began counting the Ring-neckeds.  These three species were distant and near the edges of the group; I didn't notice them until I did the bird by bird count.  Whenever I balk at counting a large group of birds (which is pretty often I must admit), I try to remind myself about these experiences.  A side benefit of the counting is the way that it focuses my attention, at least briefly, on each bird.

Our time at Hughes Hollow and Sycamore Landing was also about the owls:

Barred Owl--1 at Hughes Hollow, 2 at Sycamore Landing (new for the week!)
Great Horned Owl--1 at Hughes Hollow
Eastern Screech-Owl--1 at Sycamore Landing (also new for the week; I never did get our backyard screech owl to answer)

Tonight we're in Charles County, planning to bird Charles, PG, and Howard Counties tomorrow.  (In case you're looking for geographic sense in our itinerary, it may help to know that we're accommodating a couple other activities along with our birding this week; tomorrow is a birthday party in Howard County.  Birds AND cake?  Sounds like a good day to me!)

FUN and GAMES

Worcester--76
Somerset--52
Wicomico--65
Dorchester--69
Talbot--59
Caroline--46
Queen Annes--41
Anne Arundel--51
Kent--38
Cecil--35
Harford--40
Baltimore--46
Carroll--33
Howard--1 (so far, we'll be back...)
Frederick--43 (added 7 species today)
Washington--36 (added 6 species today)
Garrett--41
Allegany--36
Montgomery--35

Total Species so far: 129 (6 species added today)

Total Ticks so far: 843

I still have 2 species seen in all 18 counties so far this week.  Any guesses?  Several additional species have been missed in only a single county.

Have fun,

Ron Gutberlet
Salisbury, MD