Ventured out today to see where I could go and what could be seen. 
Highlights were 2 American Tree Sparrows, along with 5 White-crowned 
Sparrows and 7 Fox Sparrows along Sugarland Road (which is near Hughes 
Road). Also a third winter Great Black-backed Gull at Violette's Lock. 
(ATSP and GBBG both county birds for me). The gull was floating far out 
upstream near the Virginia side when I was there.  Also stopped by Black 
Hill Regional Park; there is only about 5% open water remaining. The 
usual collection of waterfowl was there, including six Redheads and one 
first winter male Common Goldeneye.

Accessibility notes: Riley's Lock Road was blocked 100 feet in by a 
fallen tree. Very limited parking at Violette's Lock -- essentially only 
two plowed spaces.

I made perhaps my most surprising find when I stumbled in the deep snow 
at Violette's Lock. I noticed as I was gathering myself to get up a very 
thin 1 inch long wasp-like creature crawling along the snow. Hard to 
believe that an insect could be alive and active after all the weather 
we have been having lately.

I also spent some time in Frederick County looking for Longspurs, et al. 
along the edges of Oland Road and vicinity. Found several Horned Larks, 
but that was it. Many roads there are still one lane, so travel is 
difficult and there were not many exposed roadsides for the birds to 
forage on.

Some eBird lists below:

Location:     Black Hill Regional Park
Observation date:     2/13/10

Canada Goose     30
Canvasback     20
Redhead     6
Ring-necked Duck     10
Bufflehead     2
Common Goldeneye     1
Hooded Merganser     10
Ruddy Duck     30
Pied-billed Grebe     6
Turkey Vulture     1
Bald Eagle     1
Red-shouldered Hawk     1
Ring-billed Gull     6
American Crow     4
Northern Mockingbird     2

This report was generated automatically by eBird v2(http://ebird.org)

Location:     Sugarland Road
Observation date:     2/13/10

Turkey Vulture     2
Red-tailed Hawk     1
Blue Jay     15
crow sp.     15
Eastern Bluebird     6
Hermit Thrush     1
Northern Mockingbird     3
European Starling     65
Eastern Towhee     1
American Tree Sparrow     2
Fox Sparrow     7
Song Sparrow     1
White-throated Sparrow     35
White-crowned Sparrow     5
Dark-eyed Junco     30
Northern Cardinal     25
Brown-headed Cowbird     20
House Sparrow     5

This report was generated automatically by eBird v2(http://ebird.org)




Good birding!
Jim Moore
Rockville, Maryland
PLEASE REPORT YOUR BIRD SIGHTINGS to http://ebird.org/