I swung by Beauvue Ponds and the AAA Gravel Pond, in St. Mary's County, around noon today. At Beauvue, I found two of the three Dickcissels singing. One was the scruffy one that Bill Hubick photographed. The other had normal head plumage. I couldn't find the third. When I drove down to the gravel plant office to flip a U-turn, a Northern Bobwhite called so close to the car that I was surprised I never found it. A second bird called back from the pond side of the road.

A stop at the gravel pond yielded nothing exceptional though I'm always hoping for something like a Common Moorhen or Purple Gallinule. Never happens but you can at least dream about it!
 
Tyler Bell

California, Maryland 



Location:    Beauvue Ponds (near the intersection of Breton Beach Rd. and Abell's Wharf Rd. south of Leonardtown)
Observation date:    7/11/09
Number of species:    16

Northern Bobwhite    2
Black Vulture    3 (two feasting on a deer carcass on my way in) - allowed close photos from the car though the smell was unbelievable.
Turkey Vulture    5 (two feasting on the same deer carcass on my way out) - ditto on the smell!
Osprey    15
Bald Eagle    1
Laughing Gull    1
Barn Swallow    1
Northern Mockingbird    3
European Starling    18
Common Yellowthroat    2
Grasshopper Sparrow    8
Blue Grosbeak    1
Dickcissel    2 - Both on Abell's Wharf Rd. The first bird was near the Breton Beach Rd. side of the tree row while the second was at the end of the tree row nearer the office. The first bird, at one point, flew toward me at the tree near the bend with the Osprey nest, and landed in the weeds about 25 feet in front the mowed area. I walked over a bit closer but didn't hear any begging calls. The bird re-emerged and flew into the tree by the bend before flying back to the initial perch. The second bird was singing from the green spiky weeds about 50 feet in from the mowed area. The dick-dick-cis-cissel song wasn't always fully audible. Often it was just the cis-cissel part.
Red-winged Blackbird    6
Eastern Meadowlark    12
Common Grackle    4

Location:    AAA Gravel Pond (near Brown Rd. and St. Andrew's Church Rd. (Rt. 4))
Observation date:    7/11/09
Number of species:    6

Canada Goose    6
Great Crested Flycatcher    1
Red-eyed Vireo    1
Wood Thrush    1
Northern Parula    1
Red-winged Blackbird    3

This report was generated automatically by eBird v2(http://ebird.org)