On my out, after seeing the Vesper Sparrows, I saw a Grasshopper Sparrow
cross the road and land for a moment on the phragmites near the end of the
field trail. I was attempting to find a swallow that was dropping down over
the water when the Grasshopper popped up and distracted me. I turned my back
on the mystery swallow for a minute and it was gone.

I missed the Eastern Kingbird and Ring-necked Pheasant; but found several
Green-winged Teal. I'll echo Matt -- the Common Loon flight was very, very
impressive.

Good to meet you Matt. Thanks Jon.
-- 
Keith Eric Costley
Randallstown, Baltimore County



On Thu, Apr 14, 2011 at 7:50 AM, Matt Hafner <> wrote:

> I stopped in at SWAP before work this morning hoping to see some Vesper
> Sparrows.  I was able to find 2, but the real highlight was the Common Loon
> flight that occurred while I was there.  I carefully counted loose flocks of
> Common Loons as they were flying over and ended up with 273 birds!  Keith
> Costley was coming in as I was leaving and hopefully he can add more during
> the time he was there.
>
> Other interesting birds were 11 Northern Shovelers, Ring-necked Pheasant
> (glad to know they are still somewhere), and my first of the year Eastern
> Kingbird.  At the light rail station, a mockingbird was imitating Eastern
> Kingbird so it took a little bit of the surprise out when a kingbird dropped
> into a tree by the boat ramp.
>
> Full ebird list below.
>
> Good birding,
>
> Matt Hafner
> Forest Hill, MD
>
> Location:     Southwest Area Park
> Observation date:     4/14/11
> Number of species:     36
> Canada Goose     8
> Mallard     3
> Northern Shoveler     11
> Ring-necked Pheasant     1     crowed once, SWAP is one of the last
> strongholds for this species in Central Maryland.
> Common Loon     273     ***High Count*** All flyovers carefully counted
> heading north starting around 6:40am and continuing through when I left.  I
> even saw 2 more, not included in this count, as I was driving to work.
>  Mostly in loose flocks of 10-40 birds.
> Double-crested Cormorant     8
> Osprey     2
> Bald Eagle     1
> Ring-billed Gull     14
> Caspian Tern     2
> Rock Pigeon     4
> Mourning Dove     3
> Chimney Swift     1     flew through my binoculars while counting a loon
> flock
> Belted Kingfisher     1
> Northern Flicker (Yellow-shafted)     7
> Eastern Kingbird     1
> Fish Crow     6
> Tree Swallow     5
> Carolina Chickadee     2
> Carolina Wren     1
> Ruby-crowned Kinglet     1
> American Robin     16
> Northern Mockingbird     2
> Brown Thrasher     1
> European Starling     25
> Common Yellowthroat     2
> Field Sparrow     4
> Vesper Sparrow     2     ***UNCOMMON*** though regular here in migration.
>  County bird for me.
> Savannah Sparrow (Eastern)     5
> Song Sparrow     12
> Swamp Sparrow     9     Several singing
> White-throated Sparrow     6
> Northern Cardinal     4
> Red-winged Blackbird     36
> Brown-headed Cowbird     1
> House Finch     2
> This report was generated automatically by eBird v2(http://ebird.org)
>
>
>
>
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