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Re: Long-tailed duck & Blue-winged Teal in Howard County still there Sunday morning

From:

Edward Boyd

Reply-To:

Edward Boyd

Date:

Sun, 5 Apr 2009 12:05:11 -0700

The long-tailed Duck is still present on the pond as of 3:00 PM despite the activity of fisherman and others enjoying the park. The bird was hanging out under the west fishing platform until a couple of people arrived to use the platform. The bird then swan 10 yards away where it still was when I left. A Northern Herrier was observed over the trees by the tennis courts when I arrived. It was heading north. 
Ed Boyd
Westminster, MD

Jim Green wrote: 
> Hi Everybody: With only a few hours to get out on Sunday morning I chose to drive up to Howard County And see if either of the ducks reported yesterday were still there
> I first went to Warfield Ponds Park and found the Long-tailed Duck diving around the support posts of the small structure along the far right side of the pond. The only other company it had were two very noisy Canada Geese. I almost missed the L-T. Duck because on my first scan it was either behind one of the support posts or under water.
> Full of confidence I then drove over to Lake Elkhorn - Forebay Pond and parked in the Dockside lot.  A quick scan of Lake Elkhorn from the parking lot  resulted in one Red-necked Grebe and one Pied-billed Grebe. I followed the directions and had a very nice brisk walk (clockwise) around Lake Elkhorn to the back end of the Lake.  After crossing the bridge and taking the trail uphill branching off the main Lake E. path I came to an area where I could scan the wetland edges of Forebay Pond.
> I did not see any Teal. There were 9 HOODED MERGANSERS (all were either female or first-year males).  in one of the wet edges of the pond I saw 2 RUSTY BLACKBIRDS (one female, one male) among a small group of Red-winged Blackbirds. I was looking almost directly into the morning sun. 
> I returned to the path and continued further around Forebay Pond. Just beyond the back of the pond there was another path branching off to the left. I was able to scan Forebay Pond from here with the spotting scope (and the sun behind me). I found the 3 BLUE-WINGED TEALS up against some vegetation that was not visible from the first location that I had been at.
> Thank you very much to Bill & Karen Blum, and Bill Hill for the posts on MDOSPREY. Last but not least thanks for attaching the idiot-proof map and directions put together by the Howard County Birdclub. I had been to Lake Elkhorn before but had never even known about the pond At Warfield Park and Forebay Pond. 
> I was home by 9 A.M. before our 6 yearold grandchild, (who had spent the night) was even out of bed. What a great start to a beautiful day!
> Jim Green
> Gaithersburg, MD
> WORK IN MODERATION, BIRD IN EXCESS!!!