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Subject:

Dickcissel at Milltown Landing

From:

Fred Shaffer

Reply-To:

Fred Shaffer

Date:

Fri, 24 Oct 2008 18:52:12 -0400

My brother and I birded several locations in southern Prince George's County this afternoon and the highlight was an adult female Dickcissel in the fields at Milltown Landing.  The bird flushed as I walked through some tall grass at the field's edge and perched prominantly in a small tree.  We both got great looks at this bird at about eye level from about 40 feet.  

Sparrows at Milltown Landing included 7 White-crowned Sparrows, 6 Field Sparrows, 11 Savannah Sparrows, 4 Swamp Sparrows, 7 White-throated Sparrows, and 80+ Song Sparrows.  Other birds included one Eastern Meadowlark, Eastern Bluebirds, 2 adult Bald Eagles (up river), 1 Red-tailed Hawk, 1 Red-shouldered Hawk, Flickers, Eastern Bluebirds, Blue Jays, Mockers, a group of Yellow-rumped Warblers, 1 Ruby-crowned Kinglets, and a lot of Mourning Doves.

Other stops included Schoolhouse Pond, Aquasco Farms and Mount Calvert.  These were largely uneventful, but larger numbers of gulls are starting to come to Schoolhouse Pond, which had 310 Ring-billed Gulls, 4 Ring-billed Gulls, and 2 Herring Gulls when I checked.  Also present were the Trumpeter Swan, Mute Swan, Great Egret, and 2 Double-crested Cormorants.  

Fred Shaffer

Patuxent MOS