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Subject:

Jug Bay yard birds - oriole continues

From:

Jeff Shenot

Reply-To:

Jeff Shenot

Date:

Wed, 6 Jan 2010 09:35:42 -0500

Howdy Folks!  Working from home today.  I am very happy to report the Baltimore Oriole is still feeding here and appears very healthy!  We have a wide variety of choices out there, but so far I have only seen it feed at two stations.  It is eating mostly dried fruit (favorite seems to be papaya) out of a mixed fruit and nut mix from a tube feeder, and shelled/chipped sunflower nuts out of a cage tube feeder.  I put orange (sliced open, in half) out, as well as a sugar water mix in a "Oriole" feeder, but it has completely ignored both of these offerings.

Also still have Fox and Tree Sparrows (2 each) at the feeders, as well as the usual passerines.  We have about 30 Goldfinches feeding regularly at the thistle feeders, but have seen no winter finches yet (Purple Finch, Pine Siskin, Redpolls, etc.).  Waterfowl #s and diversity on the river at Jug Bay have been reduced ever since the big snow and hard freeze.  I suspect it caused a significant movement of some waterfowl, but to where I have no guess to offer.  Several of the CBCs I did last week had very little open water (frozen ponds) and puddle ducks were very scarce.  For my Jug Bay high counts (most at one time) over the last week, I have seen only 615 Canada Geese, 65 Black Ducks, 85 Pintails, 175 Mallards, 5 GW Teal, 22 Shovelors, 2 Lesser Scaup, 14 Ring-necked Ducks, 20 Common Mergansers and 5 Hooded Mergansers.

Another cold front is coming this weekend ... perhaps it will bring us a Snow Bunting or Snowy Owl!

Cheers-
Jeff Shenot
Croom Md