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Subject:

Washington & Frederick Counties...5'16

From:

Jim Green

Reply-To:

Jim Green

Date:

Sun, 16 May 2010 22:58:11 -0400

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!!!