I spent another pheasantless morning at SWAP, but at least I got to participate in the Common Loon flyover event. I first saw a group of seven, then ten, then five. I can't guarantee that there weren't more, but I wasn't always looking up.

Other highlights of my 45 species at the park included GREEN HERON, two yellow PALM WARBLERS, two COMMON YELLOWTHROATS, three EASTERN MEADOWLARKS, BROWN CREEPER, RUBY-CROWNED KINGLET, and BLUE-GRAY GNATCATCHER. Yesterday while there I saw a CHIMNEY SWIFT.


hoping my pheasant repellant wears off soon, 
Leslie Starr
Baltimore




On Apr 4, 2012, at 9:09 AM, Robert Ostrowski wrote:

> Like Fred, this morning at Governor Bridge, I had a bunch of Common Loons
> flying over: one group of 15 and then a single bird. All of them were
> following the Patuxent River northward. Governor Bridge is about 9.15 miles
> north of Schoolhouse Pond, so if we assume the loons were flying about 40
> mph, then it would only take them ~13 minutes to get from over Fred's head
> to over mine!
> 
> Rob Ostrowski
> Crofton, MD
> 
> 
> 
> On Wed, Apr 4, 2012 at 8:21 AM, Fred Shaffer <>wrote:
> 
>> I've had some good mornings at Schoolhouse Pond over the last few weeks,
>> but today felt like something special.  I saw a few new spring arrivals,
>> had massive numbers of flyover gulls, and had the biggest flight of flyover
>> Common Loons that I've ever seen at the pond for one morning.  Highlights
>> included 33 Common Loons, one Black-crowned Night Heron, the continuing
>> singing Yellow-throated Warbler, and 4 Bonaparte's Gulls.
>> 
>> The gulls flew over in especially big numbers this morning, with the
>> majority of birds heading in the general direction of the Brown Station
>> Road landfill.  Totals included 291 Laughing Gulls, 155 Herring Gulls, 24
>> Ring-billed Gulls, and 4 flyover Bonaparte's Gulls.  The Bonaparte's Gulls
>> were my first of the spring at Schoolhouse Pond.  It was interesting to
>> note that, while there were exceptions, the gulls largely stuck to
>> single-species flocks, with the Laughing Gulls being especially vocal and
>> the Herring Gulls consisting of mostly immature gulls.  The Bonaparte's
>> Gulls consisted of a tightly clustered group of four, slightly off-set from
>> a larger group of Laughing Gulls.
>> 
>> The flyover Common Loons were probably the highlight of the morning.  I've
>> had small groups of migrants at the pond before (including groups up to 15,
>> I believe), but today was an unusually heavy flight, at least in my
>> experience.  Flyover loons consisted of groups of 10, 4, 6, 4, 6, and 3.
>> And, I easily could have missed some loons as birds were flying over fast
>> and furious at one point when I was torn between group of ten flyover
>> loons, the cluster of Bonaparte's Gulls, several dozen Herring and Laughing
>> Gulls, and the singing Yellow-throated Warbler.
>> 
>> Other highlights included the arrival of a Black-crowned Night Heron.  I
>> believe that it is a second spring bird, as it had the pattern of an adult,
>> but extremely washed out and muted.  Also, the Yellow-throated Warbler
>> continues to sing at the rear of the pond.  I got decent views of it
>> yesterday.  This morning it stayed out of sight, but I could hearing
>> singing from the treetops near the trail.  Other birds of note included 2
>> Chipping Sparrows, 1 Field Sparrow (somewhat out of the ordinary for the
>> pond), an Eastern Phoebe, and two Pileated Woodpeckers.  Good birding,
>> 
>> Fred Shaffer
>> 
>> Crofton, Anne Arundel
>> 
>> ############################
>> 
>> 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
>> 
> 
> ############################
> 
> 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

############################

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