Hi, all -

I decided not to go to Florida this afternoon after all, but instead spent the morning driving around Howard. This was called "birding by car in the middle of the road". 

Highlights, such as they were:

39 Horned Larks in 4 flocklets - Old Frederick Rd, Florence Rd, the Fairgrounds, Daisy Rd

1 Eastern Meadowlark - feeding on the side of Florence Rd

6 White-Crowned Sparrows - silage pit on Florence Rd near Shaffersville Rd

1 Brown Thrasher - ditto

1 American Coot - Larriland Farms

Browns Bridge has mud flats to die for - if it were late August or early September. I assume they are releasing water at the Rocky Gorge dam. The river is open - there were some geese and a couple unidentified ducks - no place to pull over and cars coming in both directions.

Brighton Dam - the good news is there's lots of parking. The bad news is you can't walk on the dam because of the snow. The water above the dam is just about completely frozen - there is one bare spot on the Montgomery side that may be open or may be bare ice - there was nothing on it. Again stopped in the middle of the road on the upslope. They are releasing water here and it is ripping below the dam - 6 Hooded Mergansers were bobbing around in it.

Quarry - frozen

On the bright side, lots of skunk cabbage blooming in the creek that runs along Florence Rd. Does that mean it's spring?

Cheers,
Nancy Magnusson
Ellicott City, MD