I was there this morning with Jim Stasz @ 9:45 and we had no luck from 
behind the fence at the Giant Food Store. The problem with this view 
point is that you cannot see the far right side of the pond from there. 
Luckily for us we have a contact in the site that was able to provide 
access and it is unfortunate that I can't give this information out. I'm 
truly sorry but I can't. We went inside, parked and walked down to the 
pond, and there we found . . . no Black-bellied Whistling-Ducks. We sat 
on one of the benches on the east side and watched Chimney Swifts over 
the pond for about 10 minutes when we heard a familiar whistling sound 
from behind us and to the right at 10:06. A moment later 5 BBWDs landed 
on the shore in the northeast corner of the pond. We watched the birds 
for about 30 minutes before leaving.

The problem with where the birds were is that they weren't likely 
visible from the Giant Food vantage point while they were on the shore. 
 From inside of the property we noticed another bare knoll that 
overlooks the pond from outside of the fance that probably would provide 
viewing of most of this corner of the pond. From home looking on Google 
Maps there does appear to be another business or facility a little 
farther east off Wilkens Avenue in which the back northwest corner of 
the property appears to be the location that abuts the fence in this 
corner of the pond. If someone gets a chance to investigate this and run 
down the name of the business, we might be able to get permission from 
these folks to access this viewpoint if the birds are not visible from 
the Giant Food vantage Point. Google Maps shows information on Wilkens 
Avenue that this might be Our Lady of Victory School.

When we left the birds had moved into the open water and they were 
gradually moving over to where they probably could be seen from the 
Giant. From our observation it seems that the birds must be moving into 
the trees somewhere on the east side of the pond at times and coming and 
going to the pond at their whim. I wish everyone luck that tries for 
these birds.

Ed Boyd
Westminster, MD

On 7/6/2010 11:38 AM, Jessica Morgan wrote:
> I checked the pond behind the Giant this morning at 8:45 and 10:15.  No sign
> of the BBWD at those times, just some Canada Geese.
>
> Jessica Morgan
> Arbutus, MD
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Maryland Birds&  Birding [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On
> Behalf Of Bill Ellis
> Sent: Monday, July 05, 2010 9:05 PM
> To: 
> Subject: Re: [MDOSPREY] BBWD
>
> At 7:30 PM on 5 July no Whistling Ducks could be seen; there were two guys
> fishing from shore.
>
> Bill Ellis
> Billellis
> At ellislist dot com
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Maryland Birds&  Birding [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On
> Behalf Of Fred Shaffer
> Sent: Monday, July 05, 2010 1:01 PM
> To: 
> Subject: [MDOSPREY] BBWD
>
> My wife and I saw the five Black-bellied Whistling Ducks in Arbutus this
> morning a little after 11.  They were at the previously posted location
> behind the Giant.  They were easily visible from the parking lot immediately
> behind the Giant.  We found the location with no trouble using the
> directions posted by Tyler Bell and the site is probably less then a minute
> from the Baltimore beltway.  All five birds were easily visible and together
> on a small spit of land extending out into the far side of the pond.
> Although most of the birds slept while we were there, at one point they were
> all awake, looking around, and preening.  I was interested to note that when
> we walked up to the fence from which we could view the birds, almost all the
> geese immediately came up to us (some swimming from across the pond)
> expecting handouts, while the BBWD remained stationary at their pondside
> location.  Also present were a few Mallards, Eastern Kingbird, House Sparrow
> and Song Sparrow.  It was a fun stop and thank you to those who posted about
> the birds and the directions to the location.
>
> Fred Shaffer
> 
> Crofton, Anne Arundel
>