Hi Everyone,
I spent the day birding southern Maryland with Tom Feild, John Hubbell, Ian Davies (visiting from Massachusetts), and Mikey Lutmerding. We started the day just after dawn at Point Lookout State Park.
It was a beautiful morning, but there was virtually no passerine movement at the point. After a short while, we hiked north to the woods and things began picking up. Near the southern end of the woods, we all froze in our tracks as a single WHITE-WINGED CROSSBILL flew over calling its series of 'jeet' notes. This was our main target for the morning, so we were pretty stoked. There is very little of the species' preferred food here, but it makes sense that some will find their way to the point. As we hiked, we joked with Ian about differences in common winter species between Maryland and Massachusetts. He was clearly more excited about the day's Brown-headed Nuthatches and Tundra Swans than the White-winged Crossbill and Barrow's Goldeneye that we were so worked up over. What? Winter grackles and Ruby-crowned Kinglets??? :)
Here's the full list from Point Lookout:
Canada Goose--181
Tundra Swan--4
Greater Scaup--296
Surf Scoter--1
White-winged Scoter--9
Long-tailed Duck--7
Bufflehead--49
Common Goldeneye--12
Red-breasted Merganser--2
Ruddy Duck--1
Common Loon--5
Horned Grebe--3
Bald Eagle--1
Sharp-shinned Hawk--1
Sanderling--18
Herring Gull (American)--14
Mourning Dove--4
Downy Woodpecker--4
Hairy Woodpecker--1
Northern Flicker (Yellow-shafted)--1
Blue Jay--1
American Crow--6
Carolina Chickadee--4
Brown-headed Nuthatch--4
Brown Creeper--2
Carolina Wren--5
Winter Wren--1
Ruby-crowned Kinglet--5
Eastern Bluebird--5
American Robin--13
Northern Mockingbird--1
European Starling--14
Cedar Waxwing--29
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle)--9
Fox Sparrow (Red)--1
Song Sparrow--3
White-throated Sparrow--9
Dark-eyed Junco (Slate-colored)--7
Northern Cardinal--3
Red-winged Blackbird--65
Common Grackle--3
House Finch--11
White-winged Crossbill--1; flyover, calling
American Goldfinch--2
Next we spent some time at Patty Craig's place in hopes of seeing her winter visitor Dickcissel, but it was last seen on Tuesday, 2/3. A great consolation was seeing the Cave Swallow specimen Patty found at Point Lookout in late January and hearing about the property's craziest bird records.
Soon it was time get the rest of the group over to see the BARROW'S GOLDENEYE at the Jefferson Patterson Museum. The beautiful drake found yesterday by Tyler Bell and Jane Kostenko was located with some difficulty, but then the bird worked its way back to the main scaup flock near the three pilings off the pier. Particularly enjoyable was a close flight pass it made past the group. Other sightings included Harvey and Marion Mudd (1 pair) and Diane Ford. On our way out, Tom Feild and I found a single drake RING-NECKED DUCK in a nearby pond, my county closeout (#100).
We spent the rest of the day looking for White-winged Crossbills in northern Charles and much of PG Counties. Although there are collections of spruces and hemlocks sprinkled throughout the area, some of the most promising collections we found were in Upper Marlboro. After splitting up from the group, Tom Feild and I walked Upper Marlboro for a couple hours checking the many Norway Spruces and hemlocks. We didn't find any crossbills there today, but that doesn't mean they won't be there tomorrow. The museum next to Schoolhouse Pond remains our top pick for PG crossbills.
I've posted a few photos from the weekend--a flight shot of the Barrow's, the Wrighton Road crossbills, and a posing Fox Sparrow:
http://www.billhubick.com/new_set.html
Good birding,
Bill
Bill Hubick
Pasadena, Maryland
http://www.billhubick.com |