When I moved to AA County I saw a ring necked pheasant in tall grass off the side of Rt. 255, which runs between Muddy Creek Road and Rt. 2, just north of Lothian and just west of Galesville.  I was not “into” birding at the time, but I had grown up in PA where the ringnecks were plentiful and I was certain of the ID.  I thought it was strange to see one, but I was certain. 

 

That would have been after 1995, when I moved here, and certainly before 2000.  

 

I had decided it must have been someone’s pet escapee, or a bird farm nearby that it escaped from – but have never yet heard of anyone here with that sort of business.   

 

The last pheasant I heard of was at Wye Island.  My son’s scout troop went there and saw some in the early AM after camping.  I went out the next weekend, and looked for them.  I did not see them, but a ranger said that some birds had undoubtedly been released for the hunting dog trials that were upcoming.  It wasn't clear if there were some "natives" or he thought all pheasants were released. 

 

Joanne



Joanne Howl, DVM
West River, MD



-----Original Message-----
From: Stanley Arnold <>
To: 
Sent: Wed, Sep 2, 2009 9:30 pm
Subject: [MDOSPREY] Swan Creek; AA Co. Pheasants?; Yard stuff


----- Original Message ----- From: "Stanley Arnold" <> 
To: <
SE.LSOFT.COM> 
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=2
0River 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) 
>  
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Loc
ation: 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) 
>