I joined 8 others for the work weekend at Irish Grove. We installed a section of boardwalk on the Rail Trail (designed, pre-cut, and pre-drilled by Paul Bystrak), put up a sign, worked on drainage, slightly relocated a bridge, cleared trails, and some work on the house. Check out the "S" in Irish on the sign. You will see a hole which is the entrance to a wren box. We also had time to bird. 

The birding highlights were at least 4 Sedge Wrens, 3 Short-eared Owls, and an Eastern Screech-Owl catch a bug in front of us. 

The non-birding highlight was Dotty Mumford's spaghetti. 



Location:     Irish Grove Sanctuary & Rumbly Point Road 
Observation date:     11/1/08 
Number of species:     79 

Canada Goose     18 
American Black Duck     12 
Mallard     2 
Bufflehead     12 
Hooded Merganser     1 
Double-crested Cormorant     20 
Great Blue Heron     4 
Great Egret     1 
Turkey Vulture     5 
Bald Eagle     1 
Northern Harrier     7 
Sharp-shinned Hawk     2 
Cooper's Hawk     1 
Red-shouldered Hawk     1 
Red-tailed Hawk     2 
American Kestrel     1 
Merlin     1 
Peregrine Falcon     1 
Clapper Rail     2 
Virginia Rail     10 
Black-bellied Plover     2 
Greater Yellowlegs     5 
Lesser Yellowlegs     2 
Western Sandpiper     1 
Least Sandpiper     7 
Dunlin     75 
Long-billed Dowitcher     5 
Wilson's Snipe     1 
Laughing Gull     12 
Ring-billed Gull     3 
Herring Gull     4 
Great Black-backed Gull     3 
Forster's Tern     2 
Royal Tern     3 
Mourning Dove     5 
Eastern Screech-Owl     2 
Great Horned Owl     1 
Short-eared Owl     3 
Belted Kingfisher     2 
Red-bellied Woodpecker     1 
Downy Woodpecker     2 
Northern Flicker     6 
Eastern Phoebe     1 
Blue Jay     13 
American Crow     10 
Fish Crow     3 
Tree Swallow     30 
Carolina Chickadee     3 
Tufted Titmouse     1 
Brown-headed Nuthatch     8 
Brown Creeper     1 
Carolina Wren     2 
Winter Wren     1 
Sedge Wren     4 (Rail Trail - very close)  
Marsh Wren     1 
Golden-crowned Kinglet     2 
Ruby-crowned Kinglet     2 
Eastern Bluebird     8 
Hermit Thrush     4 
American Robin     45 
Northern Mockingbird     2 
European Starling     10 
Cedar Waxwing     1 
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle)     100 
Pine Warbler     2 
Eastern Towhee     1 
Field Sparrow     4 
Savannah Sparrow     3 
Saltmarsh Sharp-tailed Sparrow     2 
Song Sparrow     12 
Swamp Sparrow     14 
White-throated Sparrow     6 
Dark-eyed Junco     4 
Northern Cardinal     4 
Red-winged Blackbird     24 
Eastern Meadowlark     5 
Boat-tailed Grackle     1 
House Finch     4 
American Goldfinch     1 





Joe Hanfman 

Columbia, MD