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Subject:

Prince George's County Big Day, 05/06

From:

Robert Ostrowski

Reply-To:

Robert Ostrowski

Date:

Thu, 7 May 2009 10:34:13 -0400

Hello everyone,

Yesterday I joined Fred Shaffer and Dave Mozurkewich for a Prince George's Big Day. Despite the forecast, the weather held up pretty well for most of the day. Some birds that were scouted were cooperative and other weren't. As is usually the case with Big Days, you find some amazing birds that you typically see only a handful of times during the year, if that, and you miss some birds that you will see every other one of the 364 days of the year (Northern Flicker!). Then there are the birds you have confirmed locations for, but not the time to drive to. All three of us knew where we could get Cliff Swallow, Yellow-crowned Night-heron, Black Duck, Pied-billed Grebe, Coot, etc., but in favor of the list as a whole, you have to hope for these species elsewhere, somewhere along your route that still allows you to pick up other species along the way. More time driving means less time birding and less time birding means making yourself unavailable to the birds, eliminating yourself from seeing a Merlin dart by in two seconds or a Bobolink make a brief and single appearance. Also, there is some threshold with driving and enjoyment. I'm not sure where it is yet, but we were on the enjoyment side of it yesterday.

Total Count: 118 (120 individual total). There's a fine line between a good total and a great total. We wouldn't have needed very much more luck to hit 130.

Highlights:

Overall best birds: 17 Warblers (wish this were higher), Eastern Screech Owl, CHUCK-WILL'S WIDOW, MERLIN, BOBOLINKS, RUSTY BLACKBIRDS, HORNED LARK, AMERICAN PIPIT, Eastern Meadowlark, SUMMER TANAGER, Eastern Wood-Pewee, Wild Turkey, LEAST TERN, BLACK TERN.

Worst Misses: Northern Flicker, Great Egret, Black Duck, Coot, Pied-billed Grebe, four or five warblers, Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Red-headed Woodpecker, Great Black-backed Gull, Royal Tern, probably a few other birds. Some of these are due to the fact that we got behind schedule and couldn't bird the Potomac.


More specific highlights (surprisingly hard to keep accurate lists for individual locations during a Big Day. You constantly need to be on the alert, even while riding in the car):

Governor Bridge: 

Spotted Sandpiper - 1 - flushed of the side of the pond during sunrise
Solitary Sandpiper - 2 - flybys
Yellow-billed Cuckoo - 2 - singing for quite awhile, but rarely visible
Eastern Screech Owl - 1 - trilling on its own
Barred Owl
Hairy Woodpecker - 1 - at the spot where the Louisiana Waterthrush was supposed to be. 
Acadian Flycatcher - 2 
Yellow-throated Vireo - 2
Cedar Waxwing - 15 - flyby
Yellow Warbler - 2 - they were everyone throughout the day
Black-throated Blue - 2 - a beautiful male out in the open
Black-throated Green - 1 - heard, but not by all of us. We would all hear a couple later on in the day.
Prairie Warbler - 3
Black-and-white Warbler - 1
Hooded Warbler - 1 - female
Yellow-breasted Chat - 1
Blue Grosbeak - 4
Indigo Bunting - 2
BOBOLINK - 2 - flew off a tree near the Canoe Launch and headed roughly North.
RUSTY BLACKBIRD - 2 - perched on the dead tree by the Canoe Launch. LOS?
Baltimore Oriole - 3 

Schoolhouse Pond:

Mallard - 2
Double-crested Cormorant - 5
Green Heron - 1
Least Sandpiper - 2
Laughing Gull ~ 50
Ring-billed Gull - 6
Herring Gull - 15
Chimney Swift - 2
Hairy Woodpecker - 1
Yellow-throated Vireo - 1
Northern Rough-winged Swallow - 2
Bank Swallow - 1
Yellow Warbler - 1
Yellow-rumped Warbler - 2
Black-and-white Warbler - 1
Prothonotary Warbler - 1 - seen by Fred for the last 11 days
Northern Waterthrush - 2 - seen by Fred in the days leading up to yesterday

Depot Pond (hoping for the Trumpeter which hasn't been seen since March and a Great Egret):

House Wren - 1

Mt . Calvert (slow):

Wood Duck - 7
Double-crested Cormorant - 2
Northern Harrier - 1
Forster's Tern - 4 - borderline AACO. We would sure this up at Jug Bay later on.
Bank Swallow - 1
Brown Thrasher - 1
Yellow Warbler - 2
Yellow-rumped Warbler - 3
Blackpoll Warbler - 1 - heard by me and Fred while Dave was running back to the car. 
NO SHOREBIRDS

Jug Bay:

Wood Duck - 2
Double-crested Cormorant - 6
Forester's Tern - 2
Ruby-throated Hummingbird - 1 - flew by going 100 mph
Belted Kingfisher - 1
EASTERN WOOD-PEWEE - 1 - FOY
Eastern Phoebe - 2 - one on nest
White-breasted Nuthatch - 1 - only two on the entire day
Wood Thrush ~ 8
Brown Thrasher - 2
Northern Parula - 2
Yellow Warbler - 2
Hooded Warbler - 1
Yellow-rumped Warbler - 1
Prothonotary Warbler - 1
Ovenbird ~ 4
Scarlet Tanager - 1
Swamp Sparrow - 3
Indigo Bunting - 1
Orchard Oriole - 1

Selby's Landing (I knew this to be an almost guaranteed spot for Pine Warbler, and we had our hopes for Summer Tanager. Success!):

White-eyed Vireo - 1
Wood Thrush ~ 4
Brown Thrasher - 2
Northern Parula - 2
Pine Warbler - 2
American Redstart - 3 - one immature male, one male, one female carrying nesting material
Ovenbird - 2
SUMMER TANAGER - 3 - two females, one male

Merkle Wildlife Sanctuary (no Red-headed WPs, not enough time to thoroughly check):

Green-winged Teal - 4 (not the two I had scouted out on the big pond, but we got them nonetheless!)
Double-crested Cormorant - 4
Green Heron - 1
Black-crowned Night-heron - 1 immature stealthily sitting near the big pond
Bald Eagle - 2 - we took a two minute break to admire the sublimity of an adult calling while perched on a branch over the swamp, having chased off an immature.
Nothern Harrier - 1
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 1 
MERLIN - 1
Killdeer - 1
Solitary Sandpiper - 5
Greater Yellowlegs - 7
Lesser Yellowlegs - 3
Forester's Tern - 1
Ruby-throated Hummingbird - 1 - enjoying some honeysuckle right in front of us
Great-crested Flycatcher - 1
HORNED LARK - 3 - I knew they were there. We didn't get them on our walk out, but we did on our way back. One was seemingly doing some sort of courtship flight.
Purple Martin ~ 12 - nesting as usual
MARSH WREN - 2
Wood Thrush ~ 4
Brown Thrasher - 1
AMERICAN PIPIT - 22
Northern Parula - 3
Yellow Warbler - 3
Yellow-rumped Warbler - 3
Black-throated Green Warbler - 2
Yellow-throated Warbler - 2 - in the spot I've been finding them all year, by the observation tower
Prairie Warbler - 4 - two striking individuals seen
American Restart - 1
Ovenbird ~ 3
Hooded Warbler - 2
Yellow-breasted Chat - 1
Scarlet Tanager - 1
Chipping Sparrow - 10+
Field Sparrow - 6
Savannah Sparrow - 3
Grasshopper Sparrow - 4
Eastern Meadowlark - 4
Orchard Oriole - 2

Milltown Landing:

Wild Turkey - 1 - at least one calling in the distance
Double-crested Cormorant - 2
Bald Eagle - 1
American Kestrel - 1
Killdeer - 1
Barred Owl - 1
Acadian Flycatcher - 1
Northern Parula - 1
Prairie Warbler - 2
Yellow-breasted Chat - 1
SUMMER TANAGER - 1 - male singing in the "parking llot"
White-crowned Sparrow - 3
Blue Grosbeak - 1

Eagle Harbor:

Double-crested Cormorant - 4
Canada Goose with gosling
No Royal Terns or Great Black-backed Gulls!


Cedar Haven:

Double-crested Cormorant - 3
American Kestrel - 1
LEAST TERN - 1 - fishing to the south
BLACK TERN - 1 - only seen by Fred. Before Dave and I could get our scopes on it, we were asked to leave by the man who closes the gate at 7pm. This would be one of the birds that would make up the 120. The other being Blue-winged Teals at Mt. Calvert.

Aquasco Farm (by this point we were behind schedule and the rain started really coming down, making it a 20 minute trip):

Red-tailed Hawk - 1
Savannah Sparrow - 1

Spot on Aquasco Road where high voltage powerlines run through:

Cardinal - 1
Killdeer - 1
CHUCK-WILL's WIDOW - 2 - right in the trees next to the road, not singing, but calling. A very interesting vocalization with some clicking "chuck" sounds, mixed in with a metallic like sound, and something similar to a Woodcock's "peent." A great way to end the day.


Robert Ostrowski
Bowie