Forgot to mention the 1 flyover bobolink that i had, as well as 1 cute fluffy male Am. Kestrel! 3 falcon day!

Amanda Spears
Centreville, MD


 


 

-----Original Message-----
From: Amanda Spears <>
To: 
Sent: Sun, Oct 18, 2009 8:26 pm
Subject: [MDOSPREY] late cliff swallow? and other migrants










Hi all,

Made a trip with my mom up to her work in Chestertown, hoping to re-scan the 
WWTP on the way back, after failing to find the phalarope on friday (could of 
been there, rain and wind made scanning of lagoons almost impossible). I never 
made it to the WWTP, but instead, i found a nice flock of 1,000+ Canada Geese on 
the work property.  As I scanned, I also saw some N.Rough-winged Swallows 
hawking the pond, but soon noticed a smaller swallow with a pale upper tail 
coverts. Cliff? CAVE?!? I now was faced with the problem of poor lighting, wind, 
and following a small, darting swallow in a scope! It gave me few good looks, 
however i got to see its dark face with no forehead patch/color.  So I call this 
bird a juv. cliff swallow. After 15 minutes, a juv. cooper's hawk pushed the 
swallow flock up, and they headed south. I went to the yellowbook, and the late 
date is Oct. 18!  figures.
Finally I had the chance to scan the goose flock thoroughly and picked out a 
Cackling, and after I watched a merlin, perigrine, (high flying) herring gull, 
and a few more mixed swallow flocks use the north winds to their advantage.

Amanda Spears
Centreville, MD