Hi, all -

I spent four birdy (yay!) hours at Schooley Mill Park this morning(Howard Co). Had a couple really good birds for Schooley, but nothing spectacular for the region. eBird report at the end for those who like to slog through them.

Between 7 and 8 AM there were at least 70 Chipping Sparrows swarming around the rectangle described by the two upper upper parking lots and the sediment pond. There may have been many more, but they were not sitting around waiting to be counted. About 8, they more or less vanished - how do they do that? Later down at the beaver pond, I counted 8 more.

The two excellent species for the park were 2 Wild Turkeys standing in the middle of the trail and a male Rusty Blackbird mucking about at the border of the beaver pond and the woods.

Three singing Fox Sparrows and a Winter Wren were first-of-season for me. All 12 chickadees sounded/looked like Carolinas. Rats!

Anyway, it was a lovely day - and there were birds!

Enjoy,
Nancy Magnusson (Ellicott City, MD)

Directions/info about Schooley: http://www.howardbirds.org/birdinghowardcounty/SchooleyMill/schooley_mill_overview.htm

Location:     Schooley Mill Park
Observation date:     11/7/10
Notes:     Beautiful, birdy day for Schooley - frost stuck around for a while, then it got breezy - 30s-40s.
Number of species:     40

Canada Goose     130
Wild Turkey     2     my third record for the park and the first I've seen - 2 on the trail between markers 9 and 10
Black Vulture     6
Turkey Vulture     12
Bald Eagle     1 immature over beaver pond
Red-tailed Hawk     1
Mourning Dove     9
Red-bellied Woodpecker     6
Downy Woodpecker     7
Hairy Woodpecker     2
Northern Flicker     1
Blue Jay     11
American Crow     18
Fish Crow     1
crow sp.     25
Carolina Chickadee     12
Tufted Titmouse     4
White-breasted Nuthatch     6
Carolina Wren     5
Winter Wren     1     FOS - just past marker 10
Golden-crowned Kinglet     5
Ruby-crowned Kinglet     2
Eastern Bluebird     19
American Robin     77
Northern Mockingbird     10
European Starling     70
Cedar Waxwing     68
Eastern Towhee     4
Chipping Sparrow     78     0700-0800: estimated 70 (a conservative estimate) between the 2 upper parking lots and the sediment pond; feeding in the grass, along the road, in the goldenrod, etc. Another 8 later down by the beaver pond.
Field Sparrow     3
Fox Sparrow (Red)     3     FOS - singing at marker 28 - they seem to like that corner
Song Sparrow     27
Swamp Sparrow     1
White-throated Sparrow     50
Dark-eyed Junco (Slate-colored)     37
Northern Cardinal     22
Red-winged Blackbird     21
Rusty Blackbird     1     only my second (I think) sighting at the park - they should be seen more often down at the beaver pond
Brown-headed Cowbird     1
House Finch     3
American Goldfinch     44

This report was generated automatically by eBird v2(http://ebird.org)