stanley arnold <> wrote:

>Hi Folks,
>
>Ed is correct, there is another vantage point from which one could
>view the whistling ducks, but it is less public than the Giant lot.  A
>little further down (towards the city) Wilkins Ave, maybe two blocks
>past the Giant is a Catholic school, and I think it is called Our Lady
>of Victory.  Though, of course, this is private property, it is
>somewhat public private property because there is a produce vendor set
>up in the parking lot.  Anyway, if you drive onto the property, stay
>left, and then go around to the back of the building to the
>maintenance parking area, you will get as close as possible to the
>fence of the Charlestown Center.  Walk around the short fence and up
>the hill to the Charlestown fence and you can see another part of the
>pond that is not visible from the Giant.
>
>Since this is somewhat private property, all due defference should be
>displayed, and courtesy exhibited.  Good luck.
>
>Stan Arnold
>Ferndale (AA Co.)
> [or]
>
>
>
>On 7/6/10, Ed Boyd <> wrote:
>>   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
>>>
>>