So, if the Sandhill Crane Great Oak Pond is not the Google Great Oak Pond (near Great Oak Golf course, I think) - where is it?  I was thinking of checking it out, but would hate to drive that far and not even finding the pond .....

Thanks!

Joanne


Joanne Howl, DVM 
West River, MD 




-----Original Message-----
From: Frank Marenghi <>
To: 
Sent: Sat, Jan 2, 2010 9:41 pm
Subject: [MDOSPREY] Brief tour through Queen Anne's & Kent Co.


Hello all,
The not-quite gale force winds of this morning made me a little optimistic, so I 
hought I would try for the Northern Shrike with my girlfriend this afternoon. 
owever, the wind was howling by the time we got to the Round Top and Kibler 
ntersection and I figured it was either hunkered down or just plain out of 
ight because we didn't see it after 2 hours of searching. 
We did see at least 8 WHITE-CROWNED SPARROWS (6 juv, 2 ad), 2 RED-BELLIED 
OODPECKERS, 2 BALD EAGLES (one of which was feeding on a SNOW GOOSE carcass and 
he other was carrying nesting material), 2 N. HARRIERS (male & female) and at 
east 6 different RED-TAIL HAWKS, including 2 feeding on a CANADA GOOSE carcass 
ith TURKEY VULTURES. There were at least 6 N. MOCKINGBIRDS, which gave made us 
ook very hard at them each time one appeared.
We left there and headed over to where the Sandhill Crane was reported from last 
eek, or where I thought it was reported from because when we got there we found 
o pubic access to the pond and a whole lot of private property, residents only 
igns. According to Google Maps it was the only Great Oak Pond in Kent Co., but 
n closer inspection it is actually called Stavley Pond on the map. It was just 
s well because we found a flock of ~ 40 AMERICAN PIPITS and 10 BALD EAGLES on a 
rozen farm pond feeding on a carcass on the ice (couldn't tell what it was). 
hey were very close to the road and it was great to watch them interacting, 
lying and perched on the ground. There were 2nd and 3rd year birds for sure as 
ell as adults. We also had ~ 200 SNOW GEESE fly over and several thousand 
ANADA GEESE (not including decoys) but none of the rarer goose spp. At one 
oint we encountered a mixed flock of at least 40 WHITE-THROATED SPARROWS, 2 E. 
LUEBIRDS, 4 N. CARDINALS, ~ 8 D.E. JUNCOS, a few SONG SPARROWS, 1 DOWNY 
OODPECKER, 1 N. FLICKER, 1 C. WREN, and a couple C. CHICKADEES. 
On the way back to Annapolis, we saw 12 BRANT flying west alongside the Bay 
ridge on the QA side. 

ood Birding, 

rank Marenghi
nnapolis, MD
                      
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