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Subject:

TThe Woodbinoculars Big Sit wrap up

From:

Rick Sussman

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Sun, 11 Oct 2009 18:15:54 -0400

Hi again,

Our (new) Big Sit from our yard here in southern Carroll County yielded 40 species, with nothing new tallied after about 1 PM.I stepped out during halftime of the Ravens game and had another Bald Eagle flying right above my head, this one a juvenile. The earlier one was an adult. I already mentioned the real highlights; most everything else was "expected" for a yard this time of year. I was really only thinking we would get 20 to 25 species so I was really overwhelmed when we hit 40, which is just 10 species shy of my highest spring migration?day list!



The only real "misses" we had would be Common Grackle, Brown-headed Cowbird, Ruby-crowned Kinglet and Great Blue Heron. To get a kinglet I would have to have near windless conditions as the nearest tree line is about 75 yards away, so I would need a scope to pick one up among the leaves. I can really only think of perhaps about a dozen more species we could see, including the heron, Mallard, one of the 2 owls I have heard from here (Screech or Grt Horned), another raptor species (harrier, Osprey or another falcon), Killdeer, another sparrow (Song, Field or White-throated), grackle or cowbird, maybe another warbler , or catbird.



So for our first effort, we did amazingly well, I think. We also watched a pair of beautiful hot air balloons fly across the horizon very early this morning, lit by the just rising sun.



Rick Sussman
Woodbine,MD