Hi Everybody:
I spent the majority of the day in Washington County and then spent several hours in Frederick county on my way back to Gaithersburg. I arrived at Blairs Valley Lake at first daylight and spent an hour and a half birding the lake perimeter and some of the fields behind the lake. I'm not sure if things were just slow in waking up or maybe I should have spent a few more hours there but I did not get the variety of warblers, etc. that I was hoping for. Highlights included Wild Turkey, Solitary and Spotted Sandpipers, Yellow Warbler, Northern Waterthrush, Blackpoll, Magnolia Warbler (a county bird) and Yellow-breasted Chat.
I then reversed my direction and headed east to check the wetland area behind the Hagerstown Airport to look for a White-rumped Sandpiper that Joel Martin had seen on Saturday but after 40 minutes of scoping from every possible angle I did not find the bird. The only shorebirds there were Killdeer (1), Spotted Sandpiper (2), Solitary Sandpiper (1) and Least Sandpiper (9). After a quick check of some of the Hagerstown shorebird spots I again reversed direction and drove back to Clear Spring and then made my way up to Hanging Rocks Road. There is a section of this road that dead ends near the top of a ridge that has AT & T equipment on it. I slowly birded up the road and then back down. This part of the road was especially productive.
Highlights on HANGING ROCK ROAD included:
E. Screech Owl (1)
Veery (2) a county bird
Swainson's Thrush (1) (a county bird)
Acadian Flycatcher (3)
Yellow-throated Vireo (1)
Worm-eating Warbler (2)
Black-throated Blue Warbler (3) FOY
Ovenbird (6)
Hooded Warbler (1)
Chestnut-sided Warbler (1) FOY
Magnolia Warbler (1)
Canada Warbler (1) FOY & a county bird
Lincoln's Sparrow (1) FOY & a county bird initially heard chipping and then perched for 10 seconds
Counting N. Parula and Common Yellowthroat I had 9 species of warbler on this section of the road.
MUMMERT ROAD:Louisiana Waterthrush (1), Kentucky Warbler (1) and Hooded Warbler (2)
I had another Kentucky Warbler singing at the intersection of Catholic Church and Indian Springs Road.
MOORESVILLE ROAD:
Common Raven (1)
A. Redstart (2)
Magnolia warbler (1)
Bay-breasted Warbler (2) FOY
Blackburnian Warbler (1)
At the 3-way intersection of Mooresville, Kuhn's Ridge and Pecktonville RoadS I saw one Blue-winged, two Prairie Warblers and one Yellow-breasted Chat. Further up Kuhn's Ridge Road there were two Worm-eating warblers and one Pine Warbler singing.
As I headed east I stopped by the wetland area just north of Horseshoe Road on Rt. 66 (the location where Pectoral Sandpipers were reported 2 weeks ago). There were still 7 Solitary Sandpipers there but no other shorebirds.
The remaining birds were seen in FREDERICK COUNTY
CAPSTINE ROAD
DICKCISSEL (FOY): 2 different males singing on the east side of a creek crossing just north of Manor Woods Road. On Manor Woods Road I saw three BOBOLINKS (2 male and 1 female). It seemed a little late for them to be hanging around. Once back on Capstine Road I heard my first WILLOW FLYCATCHER of the year.
OLAND ROAD: Savannah Sparrow (3) and Horned Lark (2); LILYPONS ROAD: Savannah Sparrow (1). I was somewhat surprised not to hear any Grasshopper Sparrows. In the "field wet area" at Lily Pons there were 4 Lesser Yellowlegs.
It was a beautiful day to be out. I had a total of 21 warblers for the day and great looks at most of them. I hope that alot of others were able to take advantage of the nice day.
Jin Green
Gaithersburg, MD
Work in moderation, BIRD IN EXCESS!!!
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