I led a group of six birders on a Montgomery Bird Club field trip to Hughes
Hollow in the Mckee-Beshers Wildlife Management Area in Montgomery County
this morning. We saw a respectable 36 species. Dog trainers were using the
first impoundment, so we skipped that area, probably reducing our overall
count. The highlight was seeing a young Mississippi Kite soaring high
overhead with a Red-shouldered Hawk. It took us a while to realize it
wasn't an accipiter or a Peregrine Falcon. Does this suggest breeding in
the McKee-Beshers area since an adult Kite was seen in the area several
times earlier in the summer, or, more likely, is it a visitor from the
northern Virginia breeders. Hardly any warblers or other migrants. Met
another birder leaving as we started out who reported seeing a Tri-colored
Heron and Philadelphia Vireo, neither of which we got to see. My complete
list from eBird is below.
Lots of water in the impoundments and back in the fields and woods. Many
crawfish had crawled up onto the levee, probably forced out by the high
water. We saw several females with eggs and one really aggressive (male?)
who was waiving his/her pincers at us and actually pinched the helpful human
who moved him nearer the water.
Jim Nelson
Bethesda
Hughes Hollow - McKee Beshers WLMA, Montgomery, US-MD
Sep 11, 2011 8:45 AM - 11:50 AM
Protocol: Traveling
1.0 mile(s)
Comments: Montgomery Bird Club field trip.
36 species (+3 other taxa)
Mallard 4
Great Blue Heron 2
Great Egret 1
Turkey Vulture 4
Osprey 1
Mississippi Kite 1 Seen soaring high overhead and interacting with
Red-shouldered Hawk. Only viewed from below. Slightly smaller than
Red-shouldered. Long, pointed, falcon-like wings, widest at wrist.
Streaked reddish-brown on chest and belly. Light color on head but small
dark area on side of head. Appeared to be first-year bird, but tail looked
uniformly dark as in adult Miss. Kite. Some observers in group thought the
tip of tail appeared to have very narrow white band. Distinguished from
Peregrine Falcon by chest color, lack of extensive dark areas on face,
uniformly dark tail, and less stocky overall look. Ruled out accipiter
species by falcon-like shape of wings and lack of banding in tail.
Accipiter sp. 1
Red-shouldered Hawk 2
Mourning Dove 1
Chimney Swift 1
Ruby-throated Hummingbird 2
Belted Kingfisher 2
Red-headed Woodpecker 1
Red-bellied Woodpecker 2
Downy Woodpecker 3
Pileated Woodpecker 2
Eastern Wood-Pewee 4
Eastern Phoebe 2
White-eyed Vireo 8
Blue Jay 3
American Crow 2
Tree Swallow 2
Barn Swallow 8
swallow sp. 4
Carolina Chickadee 3
Tufted Titmouse 6
White-breasted Nuthatch 3
Carolina Wren 3
Gray Catbird 19
Brown Thrasher 2
Cedar Waxwing 2
Northern Waterthrush 1
Common Yellowthroat 1
warbler sp. 2
Eastern Towhee 1
Northern Cardinal 2
Indigo Bunting 1
Red-winged Blackbird 1
American Goldfinch 4
This report was generated automatically by eBird v2 (http://ebird.org)
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