Hi Everyone,

Friday was another fun day to be out...  I started in Frederick County and then birded Montgomery for the rest of the day.  I thought I'd try Soldier's Delight (Baltimore Co) this evening for woodcock, but ended up in some traffic on 270 and got there too late.  I did add a few more species for the week (White-winged Scoter, Winter Wren, and Rusty Blackbird) and plenty of new county birds for the week.  Some of the highlights...


FREDERICK COUNTY

Birds at Lilypons included:

Wood Duck--5
Bald Eagle--1 adult
Killdeer--2
Wilson's Snipe--14
Eastern Phoebe--1
Tree Swallow--19
Winter Wren--1
Golden-crowned Kinglet--1


MONTGOMERY COUNTY

My first visit to Mouth of Monocacy produced 19 DOUBLE-CRESTED CORMORANTS, 2 vocal BARRED OWLS, and a COMMON RAVEN.  The raven was being chased by American Crows and flew from Montgomery into Frederick for the bonus double tick.  I happened to be on the phone with Tom Feild--planning our Saturday birding in Anne Arundel, Calvert, and St Marys--when the raven flew over, and I held up the phone so Tom could hear it.

Next, at Hughes Hollow:

Pied-billed Grebe--1
Ring-necked Duck--54
Hooded Merganser--2
Wood Duck--56
Eastern Phoebe--2
Tree Swallow--22
Winter Wren--1
RUSTY BLACKBIRD--40

The Rusty Blackbirds were nowhere to be seen during most of my visit, but thanks to Jim Green's recent post I put in a little extra time to try to find them.  It turns out that they were on the ground hidden among the vegetation at the edge of one of the impoundments.  When I walked by them, unaware of their proximity, they began to fly into nearby trees.  Success!

At least 50 more RUSTY BLACKBIRDS were in the swamp on Sycamore Landing Rd.  Two EASTERN PHOEBES and another WINTER WREN were at Sycamore Landing.

Riley's Lock was as productive as all of the recent posts had promised.  I ran into Virginia birder Will McPhail there, and we had fun checking out the great birds.  I tried to convince him that he should take up county listing in Virginia, but I'm not sure he was buying it.

Pied-billed Grebe--24
Horned Grebe--2
RED-NECKED GREBE--1
Lesser Scaup--30
Red-breasted Merganser--8
WHITE-WINGED SCOTER--2
SURF SCOTER--1

My last Montgomery stop was at Little Seneca Lake, which didn't have any species to add to the day's list.  The late-day light, however, was very nice for enjoying the Red-breasted (3) and Common Mergansers (24).


LISTING FUN

On Saturday, Tom Feild and I will bird Anne Arundel, Calvert, and St Marys.  George Jett and I will bird Charles on Sunday morning, and I'll finish the break in PG.  I'm up to 129 species and 831 county ticks during this spring break.  The week has yet to produce a new MD year bird for me, but maybe I'll try to schedule a Sligo Creek stop for Yellow-crowned Night-Heron on Sunday.  Or maybe we'll cross paths with a Northern Rough-winged Swallow soon...

From a listing standpoint, one of my main goals this week was to pick up new "life" and "year" county birds.  I have already gotten over 100 new life county birds this week!  And 5 closeouts (I'm up to 24), with many more teetering...  I'll try to provide a full accounting some time next week for all of my fellow county listers out there--I'm gaining on you!  :)

Have fun,

Ron Gutberlet
Salisbury, MD