On November 6, 2011, I led four birders on a walk in MyrtleGrove WMA near Ripley, MD(Charles County). Temperature ranged from 37degrees to 58 degrees; overcast conditions gave way to wall-to-wall blue bywalk’s end. The air was calm.
 
The parking lot by the lake and the outbuildings by the newlog cabin were extremely birdy. A huge mixed flock of robins, jays, yellow-rumps,bluebirds, white-throats, juncos, mockingbirds, thrashers, towhees, flickersand Song Sparrows kept us quite occupied for the first hour of the trip. Nearthe lake we ticked Canada Goose (large group), a flyover Great Blue Heron, aswell as one Pied-billed Grebe. 
 
In addition to the normal avifauna, here are the TOP FIVEBIRDS of the morning: 
 
5. Chipping Sparrow – these were the first anyone couldremember for a November at Myrtle Grove. These chippers were part of the largemixed flock and included many immatures with a few non-streaked adults. 
 
4. Cedar Waxwing – a nice flock joined the log cabin partymentioned above. 
 
3. Ruddy Duck – a single bird in winter plumage joined the CanadaGeese on the lake. 
 
2. Hermit Thrush – several birds were seen and heard(chucking) near the log cabin. 
 
And the Bird du Jour….
 
1. Red-headed Woodpecker – We scored a small flock of thesebirds in the woods near the dikes. There was one adult and three immatures.Constantly in motion, these birds were gathering acorns from Willow Oaks andthen caching them in nearby snags and dead branches. It's very nice to see this species again here. 

 
Mammal: Eastern Chipmunk
Lepidoptera: Buckeye
 
---------------
Fred Burggraf
 

 




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