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Subject:

Swan Creek; AA Co. Pheasants?; Yard stuff

From:

Stanley Arnold

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Stanley Arnold

Date:

Wed, 2 Sep 2009 21:30:42 -0400

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Stanley Arnold" <>
To: <>
Cc: <>; "Charles Kucera" <>; "Mark 
Hollis" <>; <>
Sent: Wednesday, September 02, 2009 9:10 PM
Subject: [MDOsprey] Swan Creek; AA Co. Pheasants?; Yard stuff


> Hi Folks,
>
> I spent a couple hours at Swan Creek in N. AA County this afternoon, 
> hoping to find some shorebirds, and was pleasantly surprised to find a 
> PHILLY VIREO in with an active flock of mostly chickadees and juvenile 
> Indigo Buntings and Blue Grosbeaks.  The only other known migrants in the 
> group were a House Wren, a couple Magnolia Warblers, and a Chat.  These 
> birds were in the woodsy area on the right side of the sandy path that 
> leads to the beach (after you cross the ford).  This was the first Philly 
> I've seen in AA Co. in several years.  Shorebirds are still few and 
> consisted of Semi Plovers, Greater Legs, Pectorals and Leasts.
>
> An ebird report of RN Pheasant at Piney Orchard Preserve in AA Co. 
> surfaced a week or two ago, so I've visited this place several times 
> recently.  When I was there this past Friday (8/28), which I recall was a 
> pretty miserable day with rain, heat, and humidity, I played the ipod 
> several times, and after a while was surprised to get a response, just a 
> single crowing from a male.  Has anyone heard of these birds being here 
> before?  I'm not totally comfortable with a pheasant in this part of the 
> county.  Were it up north along the Patapsco River then I could understand 
> pheasants being there because of the viable populations nearby at 
> Southwest Area Park and Cherry Hill Park.  There were no pheasants 
> anywhere in AA Co. other than near the Patapsco River during the 1980s 
> atlas, and I doubt there were any at all during the recent atlas.  Just 
> curious what brought this/these bird(s) here.
>
> For the most part our yard has had the usual migrants during the past few 
> weeks:  occasional nighthawks, lots of Chimney Swifts, and the more common 
> warblers such as Magnolia, Parula, Redstart and Black-and-White, with 
> probably our best find being our second BLACK-CROWNED NIGHT HERON flyover 
> of the year just this evening.  One interesting bird that spent the day 
> with us on 26 Aug, however, was a RINGED TURTLE DOVE.  Elaine found and 
> correctly identified the bird early in the morning, and I was able to get 
> some digiscopes and video of it when I got home.  The bird has returned to 
> our yard a couple more times and was last seen on 8/31.  It is definitely 
> not Anne Arundel's first Eur. Collared Dove, and this particular exotic 
> cannot even be entered in ebird like most other exotics.  It doesn't count 
> for anything, but it sure has been a very interesting yard bird, and we've 
> rather enjoyed watching it.
>
> The ebird list for Swan Creek is below.
>
> Best regards,
>
> Stan Arnold
> Ferndale (AA Co)
> 
>
>
>
>
> Location:     Swan Creek Dredged Material Facility
> Observation date:     9/2/09
> Notes:     The Bald Eagle was an adult.  The Philly Vireo was in an active 
> group of mostly chickadees, young indigos and young Blue Grosbeaks, 
> Magnolias and a Chat along the sandy path leading to the beach.
> Number of species:     41
>
> Canada Goose     8
> Mute Swan     2
> Mallard     3
> Double-crested Cormorant     1
> Great Blue Heron     8
> Snowy Egret     5
> Little Blue Heron     11
> Turkey Vulture     3
> Osprey     2
> Bald Eagle     1
> Red-tailed Hawk (Eastern)     1
> Semipalmated Plover     3
> Killdeer     4
> Greater Yellowlegs     2
> Least Sandpiper     4
> Pectoral Sandpiper     2
> Laughing Gull     1
> Herring Gull (American)     3
> Great Black-backed Gull     145
> gull sp.     25
> Mourning Dove     1
> Belted Kingfisher     1
> Philadelphia Vireo     1
> Red-eyed Vireo     1
> American Crow     3
> crow sp.     8
> Carolina Chickadee     8
> Carolina Wren     2
> House Wren     1
> Marsh Wren     1
> Gray Catbird     1
> Cedar Waxwing     2
> Magnolia Warbler     2
> Common Yellowthroat     4
> Yellow-breasted Chat     1
> Song Sparrow     2
> Northern Cardinal     1
> Blue Grosbeak     5
> Indigo Bunting     4
> Red-winged Blackbird     1
> American Goldfinch     16
>
> This report was generated automatically by eBird v2(http://ebird.org)
>