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Re: Rt 340 Bridge

From:

Kurt Schwarz

Reply-To:

Kurt Schwarz

Date:

Sun, 1 May 2011 16:59:42 -0400

Gerry, and all,

There are no historical records for Cliff Swallow at the 340 bridge, and
the project has been under way since well before this winter, when I went
out to look it over at Jim's behest.  So let's not reopen this can of
worms, please!

By the way, the Cliff Swallows HAVE returned to Antietam, I saw four near
the Burnside Bridge this afternoon.

Kurt Schwarz
Conservation Chair
MOS
Goawaybird at verizon dot net

On 5/1/11 4:33 PM, "Gerald & Laura Tarbell" <>
wrote:

>When the water levels go down - i think the report for Harpers Ferry this
>morning was over 12 feet - can someone make the effort to check for Cliff
>Swallows nesting on the US 340 bridge south of Harpers Ferry? There is
>bridge work underway there this spring and although there is NOT an
>historic
>Cliff Swallow nesting colony at the site, all historic events have to
>begin
>sometime. It would be nice to know, if THIS is the year that a colony
>begins, that the construction did not adversely affect the birds. I've
>been
>harping on this, i know, but MD DOT has shown itself not to be a reliable
>partner in supporting conservation in the recent past.
>
>Jim and all,
>
>I do not think this bridge would be very attractive to Cliff Swallows. I
>looked at it this AM and it is all steel construction under there. It
>reminds me more of the Bay Bridge and more likely to attract a Peregrine
>than swallows. The current work is pretty noisy (they were at it today)
>and
>whatever they are doing up there, birds would not tolerate it. They have
>all
>kinds of tenty looking stuff mounted on the bottom of the bridge and I am
>sure no bird in its right mind would try to nest anywhere near it. My past
>experience with Cliff Swallows on bridges is that they seem to want to
>hang
>their mud nests on some concrete. It reminds them more of a rocky cliff
>than
>steel does.
>
>I did not see much swallow activity on the river today. There were a few
>ROUGH-WINGS near the old railroad bridge and some CHIMNEY SWIFTS flew
>over.
>That's it. To get the swallows going there has to be bugs coming off the
>river and in its current state of mind, bugs would have a hard time doing
>their thing. The river is so high and dirty that you could put in with a
>kayak in Cumberland and be in DC in about 10 minutes, never mind the bump
>at
>Great Falls. One big nasty river right now. I think we've had over 10" of
>rain in April.
>
>However the ORIOLES are at it big time. More of them there than there are
>at
>Camden Yards during a home game. I got both BALTIMORE and ORCHARD. They
>are
>so vocal you can hardly hear the rumbling river over them. I had one at
>eye
>level along the trail and it flew to within 15' of me. WARBLING VIREOS are
>also making a racket. Once again I found no Prothonotaries.
>
>After a stop at an antique tractor show (I got to watch them start up a
>1907
>Waterloo Boy stationary engine. There are currently 3 in existence and
>this
>is the only one that can run) I headed down Cap Stine Road to look for the
>BOBOLINKS reported by Kathy Calvert. Yippee! They were all over one field
>next to a drive to a farm that was owned by somebody named Stone. Thank
>you
>Kathy for this one.
>
>Jerry Tarbell
>An antique of another kind in Carroll County
>
>PS - in case nobody knows about Waterloo Boy, this is a company that John
>Deere bought in 1918 when they decided to build tractors. Prior to that
>Deere only made plows and other implements of destruction. My dad was born
>in 1918. I may have been born after that but it's hard to say.
>
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