I visited a few locations along the Patuxent River in Prince George's County after work today.  Merkle WMA was fairly slow and there were no shorebirds along the margin of the pond behind the visitors center.  Only a handful of Killdeer were in the fields.  A Barred Owl called repeatedly from the woods and there were 15 Green-winged Teal in the pond.  

Next I went to Milltown Landing WMA to look for sparrows and see what was along and over the river.  The sparrows were in their usual location along the hedgerow that runs down the middle of the field.  While walking along the vegetation, I saw 15 or so Savannah Sparrows, 5 or 6 Field Sparrows, 1 Song Sparrow, 1 White-throated Sparrow, and 2 Chipping Sparrows.  No White-crowned Sparrows were present.  A pair of Mockingbirds, several Bluebirds, and a Towhee were also present, and a Thrasher sang relentlessly nearby.  But the highlight was as I got near the end of the hedgerow.  A sparrow popped off the ground and flew to some shrubby vegetation at the margin of the field (where the field begins to slope down to the wetter areas).  I got great scope views of the Lincoln's Sparrow as it perched in open in a low bush.  The bird was in the open for a few minutes before I lost it deeper in the shrubby area.

Birds over the river and marsh included 2 Harriers, at least 4 Bald Eagles, 2 Osprey (who were upset about the eagles), 1 Forsters Tern, several Double-crested Cormorants, lots of Great Blue Herons, and 3 Greater Yellowlegs.  Several Wood Ducks and Canada Geese were in the small pond near the river.

Fred Shaffer

Crofton, Anne Arundel