I had to go to an FAA facility for a meeting this morning near
Warrenton, Virginia. On the way back I decided to head north and try my
luck in location the two mentioned birds in the subject line. I arrives
at Kirshners's Pond at 1 o'clock in a driving snow squall, 25 degree
temps and gusts to about 35 MPH. The weren't many geese to be seen near
the pond but I noticed quite a few up hill to the north with thier heads
poking up from the corn stubble. Their position and the stubble made
viewing difficult bvut I managed to eventually find the head of the
remaining Ross's Goose. A lot of the geese were in a rolling transition
up the hill (rear birds flying up and over the lead birds up the hill
before settling) and after several minutes a part of the flock that
included the Ross's did the same. Once this happened the Ross's was no
longer visible. I drove north and followed the road to where it bends
west and then again north after 1/4 mile. It was in the west stretch of
road that I was able to pull off onto the should on the south side and
scan across a former sow bean field and into the upper end of the corn
field that could be seen from near the driveway to the Kirshner's pond.
From this point I counted nearly 1400 Canada Geese and the Ross's goose
could be seen in the edge of the corn field where it transitions to the
Sow Bean field. The pond held a few species of ducks that are similar to
those reported over the last few days by other observers. There was
nothing else particularly remarkable here, so with the conditions being
less than pleasant I moved onward to Hagerstown.
I arrived in Hagerstown about an hour later, having stopped at a Sheetz
gas station. Conditions in the development where the Loggerhead Shrike
had been seen were very similar to those at Kirshner's Pond but with
only occasional light snow showers instead of the moderately heavy
squalls. There was a dusting of snow in parts of the fields and the
puddles in the construction areas had frozen over and were white with
fresh powder. I scanned the pond opposite the shopping center on the way
in and found nothing at all. I noted that the shrike had been reported
from this location in the last 24 hours but I wasn't as fortunate to
locate it here. I drove into the new development and for the next hour
made circles throughout the roads that provided views of the opens
fields near the new homes, mostly along and off of Hagers Crossing Drive
. I had no luck in finding the shrike.
At 2:30 I made another pass by the Shopping Center Pond before driving
behind the shopping center to scan the fields to the north of it. On my
way back to Hagers Crossing I saw 2 Canada Geese in the open stream next
to the pond and saw a Mallard fly in and land on it. I then noticed 2
smaller ducks on the water that turned out to be a pair of Green-winged
Teal.The only other bird of any interest was a Mockingbird that first
brought up my hopes when I spotted it with my naked eye. The Mallard
flew off after a couple of minutes but the teal remained and were still
there when I left the area about 30 minutes later.
I continued my search in the area of the open fields. A few minutes
after 3:00 I was literally within a minute of calling it a day because I
had an appointment in Westminster 90 minutes later when I saw a bird
flying towards my position on Hagers Crossing where theres an opening
along the curb near the dirt mound. It was, of course, the Loggerhead
Shrike and as it flew past me in my vehicle I could see that it was
clutching some prey. It appeared to be a mouse but I didn't get a great
look to be sure. The shrike flew into one of the small trees to the east
of the dirt mound and immediately dropped to the ground where it could
no longer be seen. That was when I left and headed east for my appointment.
It was a cold day, but very satisfying. Below are the ebird lists for
the locations:
Ed Boyd
Kershner's Pond, Frederick, US-MD
Jan 3, 2012 1:00 PM - 1:20 PM
Protocol: Traveling
0.25 mile(s)
Comments: 25 degrees, Wind west at 25 Gusts to 35. Moderate snow shower.
12 species
Snow Goose 1 Continuing bird.
Canada Goose 1370 Large Number of birds uncounted due to corn stubble and slope of field
American Wigeon 2
American Black Duck 43
Mallard 3
Ring-necked Duck 18
Bufflehead 2
Common Merganser 24
Ruddy Duck 1
Great Blue Heron 1
Turkey Vulture 1
American Crow 5
Hagers Crossing DR Fields, Washington, US-MD
Jan 3, 2012 2:00 PM - 3:05 PM
Protocol: Traveling
1.0 mile(s)
Comments: 25 Degrees, winds west 25 gusting to 35. Snow Flurries.
4 species
Loggerhead Shrike 1 Continuing bird. Bird observed flying with prey (mouse?).
European Starling 500
Red-winged Blackbird 30
Brown-headed Cowbird 1
Hagerstown Mall Ponds, Washington, US-MD
Jan 3, 2012 2:30 PM - 2:45 PM
Protocol: Stationary
Comments: 25 Degrees, Winds west 25 Gusts 35, snow showers.
5 species
Canada Goose 2
Mallard 1
Green-winged Teal (American) 2
Northern Mockingbird 1
European Starling 200
############################
To unsubscribe from the MDOSPREY list:
write to: mailto:[log in to unmask]
or click the following link:
http://home.ease.lsoft.com/scripts/wa.exe?SUBED1=MDOSPREY&A=1 |