Hi Everyone,

I enjoyed a long and leisurely run around Fort Smallwood this afternoon, attempting to get a work-out while stopping constantly to look at sparrows. Unexpected highlights were a migrant EASTERN MEADOWLARK and a surprise PILEATED WOODPECKER, both rare visitors to the park. Here's the full list.

Canada Goose--67
Mallard--16
Double-crested Cormorant--17
Great Blue Heron--1
Great Egret--1; flew in at dusk
Greater Yellowlegs--1; flew by the park, calling
Ring-billed Gull--2
Herring Gull (American)--3
Great Black-backed Gull--2
Forster's Tern--6; feeding actively beside the park and roosting on buoys
Mourning Dove--5
BELTED KINGFISHER--1
Red-bellied Woodpecker--3
Northern Flicker (Yellow-shafted)--3
PILEATED WOODPECKER--1; * Rare visitor to the park. Only three previous records in eBird (9/24/09 by Ed Carlson, 5/3/07 and 4/14/07 by Jay McGann). Flew in calling in the woods beside the wet meadow and examined what appeared to be a freshly created/upgraded, appropriately sized cavity. My first at Fort Smallwood, though I do have one record from my house and they use the larger tracts of woods nearby.
Eastern Phoebe--1; calling from high in a treetop beside the pond
Blue Jay--3
Tufted Titmouse--2
Carolina Wren--4
Golden-crowned Kinglet--3
Ruby-crowned Kinglet--6; three of them in the low vegetation along the beach
Eastern Bluebird--6
American Robin--21
Northern Mockingbird--4
European Starling--25
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle)--5
Palm Warbler (Yellow)--1 in the wet meadow
Eastern Towhee--1
Chipping Sparrow--2
Song Sparrow--45; impressive collection on the east side of the pond and around the wet meadow; Matt Gray was up to 110 for the day.
Swamp Sparrow--4
White-throated Sparrow--25
Dark-eyed Junco (Slate-colored)--8
Northern Cardinal--4
Red-winged Blackbird--3
EASTERN MEADOWLARK--1; * Rare migrant here. My first at Fort Smallwood and the first in eBird for Fort Smallwood. Flushed from the wet meadow and landed in a nearby tree for a few moments. Matt Grey says they get one or two a season here. (Use eBird, Matt!)
House Finch--3
American Goldfinch--1
Non-avian: Common Muskrat feeding in the flooded meadow.

Matt Grey had an adult Red-headed Woodpecker earlier in the day. 

Good birding,

Bill

Bill Hubick
Pasadena, Maryland

http://www.billhubick.com