Hi  all I  was about to walk out my front door yesterday 2- 1 -11  when I noticed   a Hermit Thrush feeding on holly berries from the  christmas display on my front  steps . The greens  still  looked so  nice  at the first of the year that I left them there. They had been stuck in a flower pot  covering  the  bare soil . It would have made a nice photo opp  but my camera  was at my mothers house next  door.

      Well I was off to scan the Snow Goose flock  at  Rt 301 and Rolling Bridge  near Centreville  to look for the recently reported Ross's Goose . when I arrived there   the field had  around 1,000  Snows   the rest of the flock was up the road  about 2 miles but far back enough from the road to making scanning them not worth while  . Back at  Rt 301  and Rolling bridge road  I was able to locate not  one but two Cackling Geese  in the flock.   After the birds got up flew around  and landing again in the same field   feeding their way back  in the direction of the road   I was able to locate one adult  Ross's Goose . At about  4:00 pm  about 1,000 or more Snows  came in to join the flock I was  scanning  after a bit of time they spread  out and  I was able to see  a second adult Ross's Goose join the first one .
      The  field also had  Horned Larks and American Pipits. Bird list below and most numbers roughly  estimated .
Scanning  these goose flocks for the  rarer  species does take up some time but does bring the reward of locating  a little something extra  once in a while .

 My yard  Queenstown

Hermit Thrush   1  -  gobbling  American Holly Berries 

Rt 301 and Rolling Bridge Road 

Snow Geese      2,000 + or more 
Canada Geese  flyovers 
 Cackling Goose     2
Ross's Goose    2 adults   first of the year 
Horned Larks    40
American Pipits  20

Happy Birding 
Danny Poet 
Queenstown, Maryland