I visited Patuxent River Park (aka Jug Bay) this morning. The first bird I saw was an immature Bald Eagle rather awkwardly landing on an Osprey platform to pick at some form of meat. I walked around to the pier and spotted two adult Bald Eagles sitting on a log right below the platform. They didn't seem interested in whatever the immature was eating, but the Fish Crows certainly were, since when the immature flew off, they noisily swarmed in to pick at the scraps. Ducks were noticeably absent, for the most part. Four Black Ducks floating on the freezing water with their heads tucked in were the only ones visible.
I decided to stop by Merkle Wildlife Sanctuary before heading home to scan the thousands of Canada Geese for any Cackling. As I was panning what I estimated to be about 4000 Canada Geese, I noticed three blue/dark morph Snow Geese. The one adult with its white neck and head gave away the position of the two almost all dark immatures right next to it. I snapped a few very distant photos and left a short while after.
Here are my complete lists:
Location: Jug Bay
Observation date: 12/12/08
Number of species: 30
Canada Goose 250
Tundra Swan 25
American Black Duck 4
Great Blue Heron 2
Turkey Vulture 1
Bald Eagle 3
Red-tailed Hawk 2
Ring-billed Gull 55
Herring Gull 1
Great Black-backed Gull 5
Mourning Dove 1
Red-bellied Woodpecker 1
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker 1
Northern Flicker 5
Blue Jay 6
American Crow 1
Fish Crow 10
Carolina Chickadee 3
Tufted Titmouse 5
White-breasted Nuthatch 2
Brown Creeper 1
Carolina Wren 3
Ruby-crowned Kinglet 2
Eastern Bluebird 1
Cedar Waxwing 2
Song Sparrow 1
White-throated Sparrow 2
Dark-eyed Junco 10
Red-winged Blackbird 4
American Goldfinch 5
Location: Merkle Wildlife Sanctuary
Observation date: 12/12/08
Number of species: 7
Snow Goose (blue morph) 3
Canada Goose 4000
Turkey Vulture 1
European Starling 150
Dark-eyed Junco 30
Red-winged Blackbird 15
House Sparrow 3
Robert Ostrowski
Bowie, MD
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