Hi all --

We had a pretty good count in Sector 6 of the Sugarloaf Christmas Bird 
Count. The "lowlight" was the complete absence of field birds in this 
traditionally excellent wintering area for larks and buntings. Hopefully
they 
will come later in the season. As an aside, did the Kent Co. count find any 
lappies or buntings at their traditional sites?

However, highlights included:

Wild Turkey (thanks to alert Sector 7 crew!)
Merlin (ditto)
Peregrine (and ditto)
Bald Eagle 
Snow Goose
100s of Black Duck
Gadwall
Hooded Merganser
Wilson's Snipe (count week) - Lilypons
Virginia Rail (count week)- Lilypons
Eastern Phoebe -- hanging on!
Black-capped Chickadee 
Marsh Wren - Lilypons
Palm Warbler  (count week)
American Tree Sparrow - over 20 seen at Lilypons
White-crowned Sparrow - over 50 seen at  3 locations
Rusty Blackbird - 45 seen at 2 locations
Meadiowlark - ok, this is a field bird but only 1 seen

Compared to Friday's sunny day scouting in same area, the rather dark 
cloudy conditions Sunday seemed to dampen bird activity. Good numbers 
of raptors but woodland bird numbers seemed quite low and much 
habitat was birdless, probably a result of the exceptional cold weather in 
December. Very few W-B Nuthatchs and Titmice. Irruptive species other 
than B-C Ch. were absent - we had well over 150 Goldfinches but no 
Siskins, for example. 

Saw 4 very fluffy foxes, including one "cross-type'" (grayish Red Fox)  --
all 
obviously ready for a cold winter!

Gail Mackiernan
Colesville, MD






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