Seen at 5:35 pm in the northeast corner of the cornfield across  River Road 
from the eastern edge of the Patton Turf Farm
 
After returning this morning from a weekend out of town, we decided to  
follow up on recent sightings and make our third try for this bird. We arrived  
in the area around 2:30 and spent two hours looking along the NIH facility  
boundary and the part of River Road adjacent to the Patton Turf Farm. We 
took a  break around 4:30 for a brief visit to Hughes Hollow, where we saw 
nothing  unusual, though the flock of three dozen TREE SWALLOWS was fun to see, 
and a  very pale SAVANNAH SPARROW has us wondering about an Ipswich. 
(Probably  not, but would be glad to send photos to anyone interested.)
 
We returned to River Road shortly after 5:30 and watched a RED-SHOULDERED  
HAWK flying across the field and over the SANDHILL CRANE, which seemed 
oblivious  to the hawk's calls. The crane was on the north side of the field and 
pretty far  away, but was seen well with binoculars and scopes, and 
photographed well enough  for documentation. The thunder grew louder as we watched 
the bird, but we were  engrossed until I looked east on River Road and saw a 
wall of rain heading  toward us. We got wet, but it was worth it.
 
Leslie Starr & Joe Turner
 (mailto:[log in to unmask]) 
Baltimore
 
 
 

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