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Subject:

Greater White-fronted Geese in QA Co. and a whole lot more

From:

Jim Green

Reply-To:

Jim Green

Date:

Tue, 19 Jan 2010 23:51:15 -0500

Hi Everybody:

I spent the last 2 days (18th & 19th) making a loop through 6 counties (Balt.,  Harford, Cecil, Kent QA and Talbot). On Tuesday early afternoon I was driving south on Rt. 213 from Chestertown. I pulled over on the shoulder at a farm pond with close proximity to the west side of the road. There was a significant flock of Canada Geese. My first thought was why bother scanning; I felt like I had scanned 50 or more flocks of Canada Geese in the last several days without even having a single Cackling to show for my time.  

There were a number of geese in the water and many more on the far edges and surrounding fields. I started with the ones in the water and decided to scan with the binocs from inside the car since they were slowly swimming away as soon as I had pulled over on the shoulder. All of a sudden I spotted a GWFG candidate, and then another and another, and then a 4th. I then got out of the car and set up the scope. They stayed fairly close to each other and reached the pond's far edge and moved out on to the field's edge. I had great looks at them for another 10 minutes before moving on to Centerville for some lunch and then called Maren Gimple and Dan Small to alert them since they lived only 20 minutes away. 

They were on their way immediately so I drove back up to meet them. Maren respotted them lying on the field just off the edge of the pond. They stood up after a bit and walked around. In return for calling them I followed them back up to Chino Farm. With seemingly little effort they located the Northern Shrike for me which had eluded me in previous attempts. After unsuccessfully looking for the Amer. Tree Sparrows I left them mid-afternoon and continued on. 

For those that may want to look for the the Greater White Fronted Geese the small pond is exactly 1 mile north on Rt. 213 (west side of the road) from where Clannahan Shop Road intersects Rt. 213.  There is a mailbox just south of the location with a 2523 address on it.

My foray started early on Monday; following is a quick (if that is possible) synopsis. I entered Baltimore County near the Picknall Area of Patapsco St. Pk. I was trying for owls just before daylight but there was way too much traffic so I quickly moved on. On Powell's Run Rd. I watched a RED-TAILED HAWK pick up a freshly killed squirrel out of the middle of the road in front of me and fly off to a nearby perch. I saw a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (County Bird). I then headed over to Liberty Dam Road. There were 9 COMMON & 3 HOODED MERGANSERS on the reservoir along with 16 RING-NECKED DUCKS.

I decided to take back roads through northern Baltimore County and then head over into Harford County. I went to the Lapidum boat ramp in Sussquehanna St. Pk. It was closed to vehicular traffic for construction purposes (and will be so until 4/1) but they did not mind me walking in to scope the river (no gulls or ducks whatsoever). I then headed for Cecil County,and followed Rt. 222 up along the River through Port Depot without any notable sightings either on the river or the surrounding woods.

I crossed back over into Harford County and scanned the river below Connowingo Dam. Other than the expected Bald Eagles and 3 common species of gulls (in small numbers) there was not much else there.

I found one place along Shuresville Rd. with some nice SPARROWS that included 8 FIELD and 1 FOX (a county bird). I then headed for Cecil County and headed south on Rt. 213. I stopped at Bethel MHA near Chesapeake City but found no waterfowl whatsoever because the impoundment was still 100% frozen. At the Bohemia River crossing I counted 53 COMMON MERGANSERS but there were no other ducks whatsoever.

My last stop was on Fingerboard Schoolhouse Road at one of the parking areas for Earlville MHA. As I got out of the car at 5:05 Pm I heard a pair of GREAT-HORNED OWLS calling back and forth for several minutes (a county bird). Shortly after that I heard distant gunshots from hunters so decided not to venture into the fields looking for sparrows and called it a day.

I started Tuesday morning before daylight on Eastern Neck Road and heard both an EASTERN SCREECH OWL near the road and a GREAT-HORNED OWL deeper in the woods at the same location. I spent 3 hours or so in Eastern Neck NWR. CANADA GEESE and TUNDRA SWANS were on the ice and filling the skies throughout my time there. The vast majority of open water was beyond scoping distance so other than BLACK DUCKS, BUFFLEHEAD, and all 3 MERGANSER species other ducks could not be ID'ed. All of the woodland and field species were of the common variety.

I checked the impoundment at Chesapeake Farms (95% frozen). In the very back amongst the Canada Geese were 4 N. SHOVELERS & 3 GREEN-WINGED TEAL. On Langford Road I found an open pond with 1 N. PINTAIL in among 13 mallards.  I checked the small nature trail on Lover's Lane and it is closed until March or April. I checked the waste water treatment ponds on John Hanson Rd. and they were still 90% frozen. There were 8 N. SHOVELERS here.

My last stop was finding the GWFG on Rt. 213. After seeing the N. Shrike at Chino Farm I spent the last part of the day at Pickering Creek Audubon Center in Talbot County. I found several sparrow flocks including 4 WHITE-CROWNED ( my last county bird of the trip). 

Jim Green
Gaithersburg, MD

Work in moderation, BIRD IN EXCESS!!!