Hi All,
I have heard from less than half of the counters on the Allegany
Count on Saturday but my own personal highlight for the day was finding
2 Cackling Geese at North Branch (behind the fence). I'm sure they were
the typical Richardson (hutchinsii) type but they were interesting
looking. One was grayer and the other had a bit of white on the lower
neck where the black ends. I suspect this is the same group of Geese
that are sometimes found at the Cumberland Terminus. There were also a
few white geese around (probably all Snow Geese though one was too far
away to rule out Ross' Goose and will have to remain unidentified).
Photo of 2 Cackling Geese and a Canada (one quite gray and another
showing a white collar).
http://www.jbchurchill.com/photos/gallery2/main.php?g2_itemId=4838
Gary Felton of Kingwood, WV passed on to me that he had a
Rough-legged Hawk near Cranesville Swamp on Sunday (12/21). He found it
along Cranesville Road before watching it fly into West Virginia. I
probably had one today along Lower New Germany Road but I was blocking
the road and a car was coming so I can only say that I saw a buteo that
appeared to have a long tail, hovered and had a slight dihedral.
George and Gwen and company reported a possible (heard only) WW
Crossbill near Oldtown but as far as I know nobody had any that they
were absolutely sure of. Today I ventured into Garrett County briefly
late in the afternoon to try some of the spots where Crossbills had been
seen on Saturday but there was nothing like that to be found.
Best,
J.B.
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J. B. Churchill
Frostburg, Maryland
webpage: http://photos.jbchurchill.com/
webpage: http://www.westernmdbirding.com/ |