On Sunday Jon and I decided to take a trip to Finzell Swamp - a new place for us.   I was hunting Black Capped Chickadee and Common Raven - he was after warblers. 

I dipped on the Raven, but otherwise we had a great time. 

We started the day searching for Finzel Swamp and ended up in PA.  We turned around, and just shortly into Maryland we took a side road.  We heard birds on the side of the raod, and pulled over by an abandoned house.  Jon got out of the car and started to look for the twittering birds - which of course had stopped.  I was slower, but I saw a brown bird hop onto a stone fence and then into brush.  I followed it shortly - and discovered a nice little RUFFED GROUSE.  Another ran away in the brush - and so did my bird. 

We  did find Finzel Swamp, where we found a wealth of WHITE THROATED SPARROWS - mostly juveniles.   Also one gorgeous WHITE CROWNED SPARROW and one nice juvenile white crowned.  Also two SONG SPARROWS and two FIELD SPARROWS.  We also believe we heard a few beats of a ruffed grouse drum - but not the classic drumming noise they usually make in spring.  Don't know what else it could have been.  

There were a lot of BLUE JAYS and a flock of BLUEBIRDS in the 4H field parking lot.  There was an OSPREY flying and a RED SHOULDERED HAWK.  
We ended up in a passing migratory flock, but could only pull out BLACK CAPPED CHICKADEES, TITMICE and one lone NASHVILLE WARBLER.  I'm sure we missed quite a few. 

There wer a few other birds, but those are the highlights of Finzel Swamp. 

On our way to Carey Road, we took a wrong turn and ended up on Swamp Road.  There was one place of mixed deciduous and hemlock that I found very appealing so we stopped.  It was appealing to birds too.  We found a feeding flock and were just surrounded by all sorts of birds.  The most common bird in the flock was the CHIPPING SPARROW - there were at least 30.  They were everywhere!  Plenty of CHICKADEES and TITMICE too.   AS for warblers - there were many we could not ID but we did get these:  BAY BREASTED, BLACK THROATED GREEN, COMMON YELLOWTHROAT, MAGNOLIA, PALM and PROTHONOTARY.    And one very beautiful DARK EYED JUNCO (slate colored) who gave us a long look. There were a few WHITE BREASTED NUTHATCHES that also appeared to be with the group.   I thought it was very interesteing to have a flock mixed with both sparrows and warblers. 

ALLEGHENY COUNTY was basically a bird-free zone.  We saw a few species at the hotel in La Vale, and in Green Ridge State Forest, by driving around for an hour, we came up with a TURKEY VULTURE, an EASTERN PHOEBE and a heard a WHITE BREASTED NUTHATCH.   It was extremely dry, with no water in the streams.  

WASHINGTON County was pretty decent, too.  We stopped at Hancock and walked the C&O just a bit.  The highlight was a large flock of primarily Cedar Waxwings - at least 30 and many were juveniles (I'd never seen a juvenile before!).  Also a PIED-BILLED GREBE on the river.   There were a lot of other more common birds there, and two warblers that I just couldn't manage to identify - so many birds that we both just got exhausted standing and looking at the treetops.  So we gave up and came home.  

Joanne

Joanne Howl, DVM

West River, MD