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Subject:

Prince George's County Birds

From:

Robert Ostrowski

Reply-To:

Robert Ostrowski

Date:

Tue, 13 Jan 2009 17:25:49 -0500

Hi everyone,

I spent this morning checking the gulls at Schoolhouse Pond, before I headed over to Mt. Calvert. But before I left, I did a little yard birding. I found three of the Pine Siskins that have been hanging around my house the last few weeks in the silver maple behind the house. They were flighty as usual, but they gave me some good looks when they stopped at the sunflower feeder (yes, sunflower, though they are at the thistle feeder in the front a lot more often) and when they paused to get a drink from the birdbath. On the same tree, a Brown Creeper searched for insects. A Ruby-crowned Kinglet fluttered in a bush next to the safflower feeder. 

There were a decent amount of gulls at Schoolhouse (300ish total individuals). Most were Ring-billeds, but there were a good number of Herrings too. The only gull not of those species was a first cycle Lesser Black-backed Gull. The Trumpeter Swan was present, along with 7 Pintails, 3 Wood Ducks, 1 Coot, and 8 Shovelers. I did not see the Great Egret. The rest of the week looks promising for other gulls to show up since the pond will remain frozen. 

At Mt. Calvert, I ran into a good amount of sparrows, including: 14 Songs, 1 Swamp, 1 Chipping, and 1 American Tree Sparrow. Most of the waterfowl on the river was composed of Pintails, but there were also Black Ducks, Mallards, Common Mergansers, Tundra Swans, and Canada Geese.

Robert Ostrowski
Bowie, MD